Amnesia
by Anayuki
Summary: Arthur wakes up in a dark castle, only remembering his name and that he had taken an amnesia potion. He finds a letter he had written to himself, telling him he chose to forget, a shadow is hunting him, and to kill a man named Ivan. He explores the castle, trying to find out who his former self was and what he had done. Based off the game Amnesia: The Dark Descent. RussUK content.
1. Chapter 1

**Welcome to yet another story of mine! So I shall explain some things before going onto the story. This is based off of the game _Amnesia: The Dark Descent_ and will have many references to it, such as the storyline, letters, notes, and the terms. It will be much like the game in the beginning but certain things will be original, especially later on in the story.**

**I apologise if I seem to describe every action taken in this but I just want to make sure people understand and have a good sense of the game itself.**

**Disclaimers: _Amnesia: The Dark Descent_ is owned by Frictional Games and _Hetalia: Axis Powers_ is owned by Hidekazu Himaruya.**

**Anyways, happy readings!**

* * *

_He was walking down a dark hall, almost on the brink of passing out. He was able to make out some candelabrums on the ceilings and expensive carpets on the stony floor. He kept fluttering his eyes open and then closing them for moments continuously._

'_Don't forget… some things mustn't be forgotten. The shadow hunting me… I must hurry. My name is Arthur. I live in London at… at… Mayfair… What have I done? This is crazy. Don't forget, don't forget. I must stop him. My name is… is… I am Arthur.'_

The voice ran through the unconscious man's mind. It was his own voice though and now he had finally woken up. But when he woke up, he found himself surrounded by rose petals and lying on a cold and stone ground. The light coming from the windows had shined on him, helping him wake up.

Arthur sat up and looked around the area, panting a bit heavily. It was very gloomy and looked very old, but it seemed like a place that had come out of a story. He felt very dizzy at the moment and drowsy. Where the hell was he at? And more importantly, why was he here? The last thing he remembered was that he took an amnesia potion and he had fainted in this dark hall.

Now why the hell would he do that!? Damn, as if barely remembering your name wasn't bad enough.

He stood up, wobbling a bit from his knees and then looked forward. There was a large door there. Hmm… maybe if he got out of this place he can find out what was going on. He looked around and saw that there was a large door not too far from him. When went to it, he almost fell to the ground, his vision blurring up as well. He realised he had to take it slowly for he was still experiencing drowsiness.

So he walked towards the door and as he touched it a red organic, pulsating, tissue covered the door, making the Brit flinch in pain as he touched a little bit of it.

Great. Now what? He padded himself down to check if he had anything on him. Turns out that there was a notebook and a pen inside of his jacket so he opened the notebook and read what had been written inside of it.

Follow the pink liquid trail.

He turned around and saw that there was a pink liquid that made a path to a specific location, just as the note had said. Maybe if he followed it he'd get some help or at least information. But before he did that, he put the put the notebook back inside his jacket, went inside a little room with a table that had a candle lit in the middle of it that was located on the side of the hall. By the candle there was a tinderbox. Arthur grabbed the tinderbox and got out quickly. Good, he needed these in case he was to be in a dark area and freaked out.

One thing the blonde did remember, besides his name and where he lived at, was that he feared being in the darkness. These tinderboxes would help him to stay sane in case he was to find candles or torches, which seemed really likely considering he was in what obviously seemed to be a castle.

So after putting the tinderbox in his pocket, he followed the trail of pink liquid.

He found himself in an area full of closets and a room that seemed to be lit up from the inside. The walls had several paintings hung and each was beautifully painted. The Englishman noticed there were a lot of tinderboxes lying around, as if it had been prepared ahead of time. Had he been planning to drink the amnesia potion? And for what? Hopefully this trail would give him the answers he needed. He took another step into the area and the door to the room blew open by itself, scaring Arthur a bit.

His breathing hardened and his heart beat faster. As if he needed any of these creepy events happening to him. Regardless, he went inside the room being a bit cautious about his surroundings. There was a fire lit up in the heater in the corner of the room, making it very warm and a table was also found there. On it was a bottle of wine and a tinderbox.

The Brit threw the bottle of wine to the side and grabbed the tinderbox, quickly exiting the room and closing the door shut. He hurriedly opened all the closets and grabbed the tinderboxes hidden inside before moving on the next area, which was a dark and stoned corridor with a couple of turns.

He walked up the stairs and walked slowly through the corridor, following the pink liquid found on the floor. The British man heard a creaking sound and immediately he stepped back and hid at the curve, tilting his head around the corner to see if anything or anyone was there.

Nothing.

Arthur sighed in relief and walked down the area. It was dark and gloomy area, even with the candelabrums on the ceiling and candelabras on the side of the walls lit.

The blonde walked around another corner and gasped as he fell to the ground, his vision getting blurry as his head spun. Were these the side effects from taking that potion? Must be or else he really couldn't have explained why he had freaked out.

After he seemed okay, the scared man got up from the floor and slowly continued to walk down the corridor.

Around the corner, there was yet another area with closets, a portrait, and two rooms. The man went to closest one and found it was mainly a storage area with shelves and things thrown to the ground. On one of the shelves he saw yet another tinderbox and picked it up. He examined the room and saw that there wasn't really anything else in here except the darkness. So he quickly exited the room, going into the next one that was right next to it.

He stepped into it and looked around it, admiring the large paintings that were hung all around him. He smiled to himself and entered the room further, reaching out to touch one of the paintings. He soon learned that it was a grave mistake when all the candles in the room were blown off, leaving him in complete darkness. He shrieked in fear and left the room as soon as possible, shutting the door closed.

…

_The other children cheered him on. His name voiced a steadily rising pace, urging him to do it. 'Am I really doing this?', the young boy thought and struck his victim with a rock._

…..

After leaving that disturbing area, Arthur made his way to the old Archives and found a big and empty room where everything was a complete mess. Wind blew out of nowhere, causing the man to breathe frantically and his vision to start zooming in and out.

Okay, now Arthur had a slight headache.

Either way, he continued to look through the room and found a lantern next to a worn out table. He picked it up and sighed in relief, feeling a bit joyous. Now if he were to find himself in an area with no candles or torches, he would at least have the lantern. The Brit was sure he'd be able to find bottles of oil lying around the castle but he knew he would have to conserve it the best he could. On the side of the table there was a trunk. Arthur opened it and saw that there was another tinderbox. At this point he probably has over a dozen of them. He would have to find a bag for he knew he couldn't continue to hold more of them.

As soon as he picked it, he heard a growl. The blonde immediately let out a small shriek and crouched down. He looked around, slightly trembling, and saw that nothing was there. It was just his mind playing dirty tricks on him, but because of it his heart was now pounding and his hands were shaking terribly.

He saw that there was a passageway on the side of the room, kind of dark looking, but that's where the trail was leading to. A little frightened, he followed it and lit the lantern, finding it way too dark. It eventually led him to another big dark room, full of bookshelves that were filled with items and books.

The earth began to shake as he entered the room, making audible sounds that something must've collapsed. The now even more frightened Arthur quickly moved across the room and saw a door. He went to it and opened it, finding yet another table with a lit candle, but this time there was a note there. He picked up and read it, hoping this would give him some insight on what was going on.

_19th of August, 1839._

_I wish I can ask you how much you remember. I don't know if there will be anything left after I consume this drink. Don't be afraid Arthur. I can't tell you why but know this… I choose to forget. Try to find comfort and strength in that fact. There is a purpose, you are my final effort to put things right. God willing, the name Ivan of Braginsky still invokes bitter anger in you. If not, this will sound horrible. Go to the Inner Sanctum, find Ivan and kill him. His body is quite a challenge to deal with but you're young and smart. With your intelligence, he will be no match for you. One last thing, a **Shadow** is following you. It's a living nightmare, breaking down reality. I have tried everything and there is no way to fight back. You need to escape it as long as you can. **Redeem us both Arthur. Descend into the darkness where Ivan waits and murder him.**_

_Your former self,_

_Arthur Kirkland_

So he was to murder a man named Ivan? But why? Obviously by the way his former self had spoken of the man he was someone who had angered him. Someone he must have truly hated.

'Well there isn't much left for me to do. After all, I don't even remember who I was before. I suppose I can follow my own advice for now. Maybe I will remember something or I'll come across information about why I want to kill Ivan. Or maybe I can find a way out. Yes, that sounds much better. But that shadow thing… what is it? Well I'll figure out what to do but first I must get out of here. It's starting to scare me by being in here.'

With that being thought, Arthur grabbed the bottle of oil next to the letter, put the paper into his notebook, and looked for another exit out. But it didn't help that it was very dark on the other side of the room. So he lit up his lantern and looked at the wall. There were shelves filled with items used in scientific experiments, as well as random items. There was also a wooden lever somewhere in the wall that just stood out.

'I wonder what that does…'

He pulled it and immediately a sense of accomplishment overwhelmed him as he turned to the side and saw that one of the shelves moved and revealed a hidden door.

'Great! I found a way out. I wonder where this door leads to.'

So the blonde went to the door and reached out to open it, looking back for a while to see if there was still something he had to do before he went through. Oh wait a bag! He saw one in the table. He went back to get the bag, which was like a satchel, and set the tinderboxes in there, then putting his around his arm.

"Okay, now I'm ready." He whispered to himself.

He then went through the door, not looking back.

…..

_He fell to the kitchen floor. Tears were beginning to well in his eyes as he received the first kick in the stomach. Peter remained hidden, in fear he too would be punished._

…..

He found himself in front of some stairs that led to a grand hall. He walked up and saw that the castle was in ruins. What had happened to this place? The stands that would hold up the structure were found crumbled onto the ground in big and small pieces. The place was lit up by the rays of sunshine that seeped through the huge cracks and big windows on the walls. All the damages seemed to be recent and perhaps they were. He walked towards the centre of the area and a flashback had occurred to him.

_Arthur looked around the area in awe and then looked back to another man with silver hair who stood very tall._

"_Ivan, is it inside the castle?" He asked with a very curious tone in his voice._

_The other man turned to look to him and gave a light smile before he nodded._

"_In a manner of speaking. Come, bring the lamp. You've been to the refinery, have you not?"_

_The Briton shook his head lightly._

"_I don't believe I have. Is it connected to the… what did you call it?"_

"_The Inner Sanctum. My most precious chamber, Arthur. And it lies well beyond the refinery. In fact, it lies beneath the very stone of Braginsky."_

And the flashback was over. Braginsky… so that was what this castle was called. He looked to the front of him and saw that there was a door down a small staircase that went downward. He went over to it and opened it, only to be greeted by the same red tissue he had encountered earlier in the castle.

The Brit definitely didn't want to touch that stuff again. So he got out and shut the door closed, going to another section of the grand hall. The very entrance of the castle was not too far it seemed so Arthur quickly went to that direction. He passed by more portraits and shelves that were on one side of the hall and what lay ahead of him was the exit to this castle. He was filled with glee when he had finally found a way out of this dark and strange place.

He reached out to open it and gasped in fear when the door too was covered in the red matter. He stared at it, horrified.

'I won't be getting out of here anytime soon, will I?'

So Arthur went back to the grand hall and looked around. There were two possible areas he could go to, which were upstairs in front of him and down a dark passageway to the left of him.

Upstairs sounded lovely. So he went up the stony stairs slowly and heard something that had made the Briton freeze.

"No! Get away from me!"

He looked around frantically, trying to see where it was coming from. Who was that young boy who had just screamed? He sounded so familiar…

"No Arthur… it was probably just all in your head. Nothing to worry about… you're fine."

He decided to ignore it and continued to walk up the stairs and down the hall. He turned to the side and saw that there were huge piles of stone blocking one way. Strange… He looked down and saw a tinderbox among the pile and grabbed it, putting it into his bag along with the others.

He continued to walk and saw a door, one that looked heavy with a door knob on it, down his path. He pondered for a moment if he should enter it but he shrugged at the thought. Why not? He needed some more clues and hints to see where to go and who was this Ivan person. So he opened the door slowly, getting inside the next area.

….

_A fragrant taste of rose lingered in his mouth. Turkish Delights, he thought, just like the ones at the consulate in Constantinople. _

…..

He entered the Archives and examined it for a while. The walls were a bit dirty, the carpet on the floor had a nice pattern, a very expensive one as well, and the floor also made creaking sounds when stepped on. He saw that there were two doors on each side of the hallway. He decided to go to the one that was already open and entered it, finding that there was a hole on the roof, boarded up by some pieces of wood. So far this castle was looking very shabby. What could have done this much damage? He looked around and saw a table with a few chairs in the middle of the room. It must be like a small meeting room or something. On top of the table, there was a piece of paper sitting there. He picked it up and read what was on it.

_16th of May, 1839, Algeria_

_The unflinching African sun has continued to plague our expedition, making it impossible to dig until dusk. How Professor Bonnefoy managed to find the location in these vast plains of nothingness remains a mystery to me. When I asked him about the tomb again, he told me about the legend of Tin Hanan, the mother of us all. An interesting story in it's own right, but I can't help feeling there's more. Later that evening we uncovered a passage, beneath the dunes, leading to a sand covered structure. The professor was confident it was the tomb we saw and ordered the others to clear the way, late into the dark cold night. Tomorrow I shall lead the men into the ancient structure, hoping to reach the burial chamber. No matter what the professor is keeping from me, the dig should yield something interesting to take back to London and the British Museum._

Arthur took a moment to think about the piece of paper he had just read. The writing looked awfully familiar, similar to the one in his notebook. Then it hit him.

'Yes, no doubt that this must be part of my journal… Oh yes, now it's coming back to me. This is part of the journal I had for an expedition to Algeria. I wonder what some of it is doing here.'

He took out his notebook and pen, writing down a memento.

Keep a look out for more journal entries and notes. They prove to be very useful.

He placed the paper inside the notebook, along with the note to self, and then put it back inside of his jacket.

The Briton continued to look throughout the room for more tinderboxes, papers, and things that would help out. Once he finished looking, he went back to the hallway and headed towards the other door.

He opened it and was greeted by the darkness. He lit up the lantern and took a quick glance. There was a desk at the corner that may have something there. So he entered the room and headed to the desk. He saw nothing on top of it and started to open its drawers, finding that there was only a tinderbox.

The man then went to search through the room and looked over to a bookshelf at the side, where there was a piece of parchment there.

Good, more papers. He grabbed it and began to skim over it.

"Ludwig's Contract… who's he and what is this?"

_I hereby offer my full attention and services to Ivan, baron of Braginsky. This contract will reign for a total of 3 years when my freedom shall return to me. In addition Ivan, baron of Braginsky, is to recommend my services at the Prussia royal court and within the sanctum of the Order of the Black Eagle. _

It was a contract that had this Ludwig filled out an agreement to serve Ivan in order to get him into higher ranks within the order of the Black Eagle. One thing Arthur had recalled at that moment was that the order of the Black Eagle was the government Prussia had set up. So now he knew that he was somewhere in Prussia yet he still didn't know why. He would have to keep looking though in order to find that reason out. He placed that piece of paper in his notebook and then exited the room, finding nothing else was in here.

He turned the lantern off and walked further down the hallway, finding another door. He opened it and entered the room, immediately hearing a type of moaning sound, similar to a cow mooing. This made the blonde tense a bit and freeze. It took a while before he began walking once more in the room, towards the desk in the corner.

There was yet another piece of paper, which was another entry of Arthur's diary.

_17th of May, 1839, Algeria_

_My hands tremble as I write. I feel the need to document my tribulation for I fear that my memory will fail me if I linger. Today, I took some men and ventured into the dark ancient passage we had uncovered. Our torches burnt faintly in the murky air as we slowly made our way underground. The men were superstitious and fearful. They argued loudly and I felt their strange language getting to me. I mustered my strength and yelled at them to continue down the slips and broken steps. The crudely carved passage… confused me. It looked much older than the 4th century structure we had expected. The twisting part had emerged into a great antechamber. The walls were lined with statues unlike any I've ever seen. Despite their unearthly quality, I felt a strange familiarity toward them which haunts me still. At the far end of the chamber, a great slab of stone sealed off whatever lay ahead. I gave the order to raise it as I pushed through the narrow space, the heavy stone suddenly dropped, sealing me inside. I was trapped._

That seemed quite interesting yet Arthur was still a little fuzzy about the memories of Algeria. He figured in time he shall remember. He put that paper along with the rest and continued to look through the desk, for other things.

When he was done, he went to the closed door that was across the room and opened it, afraid of what might be there. It was another hall that had even more rooms. For the archives this place was quite humongous! He went to another room that was labelled as _Libri Vetere _and saw that immediately that it was dark. So he went inside the room to light the candle found on top of a table. When he did that, the sound of a piano playing filled the area.

Arthur looked around and then froze. Who else was in here? Were they the ones that made that strange mooing sound from earlier? He decided it'd be best to leave the room and go explore elsewhere. He went down the corridor to find himself in a large room, one that had contained a piano, a large fireplace, and a few portraits on the walls. Strange thing was that there was no one in here. He walked to the left end of the room, ignoring another passageway in the middle, and once again hearing that mooing sound. At this point, the Brit was having a slight headache once more.

He walked once more again and entered another dark hall and this one had a huge pile of rocks lined up against one side of the wall. He went around it and continued to explore. He saw yet another piano in a corner and a table by it, which had a bottle of oil in it. Fantastic! He grabbed it and then moved on down the hall, lighting a candelabrum found in there. Once he had done that, he heard something rumble, like stone tumbling down.

Dust was coming from the direction he came from. He quickly went back to see what had happened and gasped as he saw that the pile of rocks had now blocked the pathway. He was trapped inside this corridor for there were no other exits around that were visible. He began to panic a bit but then calmed himself down.

"Don't worry Arthur… I-I'll find another way out. Surely there must be another way… After all, this castle is huge."

He went back down the hall and walked to the room on his left. A large pile of stone was found in the very left corner of the room where there was also a hole in the roof. The blonde glanced around the room and saw it was filled with maps. He saw a desk with a piece of paper on it and then grabbed it, causing him to pant heavily and blackout.

_17th of May, 1839, Algeria_

_After pounding the unforgiving stone wall for what seemed to like an eternity, I realised it was hopeless. I was trapped. I fell to the ground, gasping for air, trying to focus. That's when I saw a faint, blue, shimmer. My weakened body was heavy to carry, but I managed to push myself towards the enchanting light. It was… waiting for me. Enclosed in dark nothingness, I felt myself drawn to the mystic light. I reached out, closing it into my hands. The faint glow escaped my fingers and began to spark brightly and spirit me away, unlocking alien memories of spiralling towers, endless deserts, and impossible geometry. The next thing I can remember is the grating sound of stone being lifted, the voices of the Arabs pulling me to safety, and grasped firmly in my hands was the broken pieces of a most peculiar relic._

Arthur then woke up again, confused from what he had remembered. That orb… there was more to it. He knew there was but at that moment he really couldn't remember. He sighed in disappointment and placed the entry into the notebook, writing another memento on it.

Find out more about the orb from Algeria.

'I should look around here more to find an exit. This really is starting to scare me.'

He left the room and went to the one across. There were two large bookshelves sticking out of the left side of the room, filled with plenty of books. He entered it and then went in between the bookshelves, seeing there was a map of certain areas of the castle. When he reached out to touch it, another flashback had begun in his mind, with Ivan speaking to him.

_Ivan and Arthur entered this room. The Brit had a serious look on his face while the other man had a light smile on his._

"_Much of the castle is old and hasn't been tended to for centuries. When the shadow arrives, it won't take long until things start falling apart."_

_Arthur rolled his eyes and slumped against one of the bookshelves, next to the map, and crossed his arms._

"_We're just buying time anyway. Let's do what we can."_

_The man, who had appeared to be Russian, moved next to the other man and looked at the maps, the one that now the current Mr. Kirkland was looking at._

"_There is much to be done about the walls. We should reinforce weak structures. The ground will tremble and there's a risk everything will cave in on us. Especially downstairs. Here," Ivan pointed at specific areas of the maps, trying to make his point visible, "Here, and there. Let's get the servants working on it."_

Arthur pondered for a moment, putting his palm into his forehead.

'This shadow… has it been causing all the ruin in the castle? Probably… is that red stuff that keeps appearing on the doors the shadow? I don't know but I must keep going in order to find out.'

So he took the tinderbox found on one of the bookshelves and walked out of the room. There were only two rooms in here in the hall, no other visible exit. He went back to the rooms to check if there was another door or something. Nothing. So he went inside of the hallway, hearing that piano again.

He looked around again and then saw a hole in the end of the hall. He walked closer to it, trying to light up the lantern again. It was now empty. The Englishman groaned and then took out a bottle of oil to fill it up. Once that was done, he threw aside the now empty bottle and lit up the lantern, revealing that the wall had a weak spot, leading to room that was lit by a candelabra. He tried to push into the wall, but it wouldn't budge. He needed something to break it. So he set down the lantern and went back down the hall to look for something. He grabbed one of the rocks that blocked the way out and went back to the wall. He positioned himself, having a good enough stance, and then threw the rock to the wall.

The feeling of accomplishment overwhelmed the man once he saw that he succeeded in breaking the wall down and making a large hole, allowing him to be able to get to the other room. He grabbed his lantern and then jumped through the hole, turning the light source off and finding himself in a room full of bookshelves and yet another flashback, actually giving information on how to get out of the archives.

"_You have to be swift," A sound of rattling had begun as soon as Ivan had spoken, "When you activate the first one."_

_The sound had stopped._

"_You hear that? If it stops, you'll have to start over."_

"_Isn't all of this a bit… excessive?"_

"_You can never be too careful, Arthur."_

So there was a slight hint on how to possible get out of here, but unfortunately for Arthur it was only voices and sounds. He wrote down on his notebook yet another memento, just in case.

Figure the way out in this room. Whatever it is, it makes a rattling sound and it's some sort of puzzle.

He put away the notebook in his bag and began to look around the area. He was at the back on the room where it was dark so he lit up a candelabrum in the area. He found that there were two tables and in one of them there was another piece of paper. Only problem was that there was a case of glass around it, requiring a key to get to it. But Arthur had no such time to look for one so he grabbed a book by a nearby shelf and slammed it onto the glass, breaking it.

He grabbed the paper and skimmed it. It was information about various subjects: Braginsky Castle, the town nearby the castle named Altstadt, the Gatherers, the Gatherers, an erudite named Vash Zwingli, and the baron of Braginsky castle.

_**Altstadt and Braginsky Castle: **Another region rich with lore is Altstadt, deep within the East Prussian woods. For centuries there have been stories surrounding the hamlet and its neighbour, castle Braginsky. The quiet forest-clad mountains dressed with scattered lakes is as picturesque as can be, albeit the area is haunted by the dark. Ask any local and you will hear proof of the widespread superstition. All travellers should indulge themselves in such conversations it will certainly serve as exciting entertainment. All of them have their own twists on the tales, but there are some motifs that keep reappearing._

_**Gatherers: **This story reaches all the way back to the time of the Thirty Years War. It is said that soldiers who abandoned their duty got lost in the cold, dark woods and were forever damned to roam the grounds. Their bodies wrought by their tainted souls have left them disfigured and empty of essence. Many have sighted them over the ears and describe them as horrid revenants. They move silently through the woods, shying away from any beholder. They are called Gatherers as they seem to follow some ambition to steal living creatures. It is their prey which can be heard struggling inside damp burlap sacks dragged behind them which reveal their presence. What dark scheme do they follow? _

_**A Visit Undone: **Vash Zwingli, the well known erudite, visited Altstadt at the start of the 16th century. He resided in the local inn for a fortnight as he looked for remnants of kingdoms past. During his stay all the prominent members of society paid notice and he is mentioned in many records of the time. One day he went to investigate a burrow in the north-western glades only to never be seen again. Vash is known to have passed away in Grenoble some 30 years later. He dismissed the notion of ever visiting Altstadt, which makes you wonder what really happened. Who was this mysterious man who visited the sleep hamlet in the woods and what happened to him?_

_**The Immortal Baron: **The Baron of Braginsky lives a reclusive life with his family at his castle nearby Altstadt and like most those of noble birth, rumours are inherited alongside with the title. Researching the history reveals little before the castle was consumed by the fire in the late 16th century. It was rebuilt by Ivan, a nobleman from Russia claiming the role as protector of the Prussian State. Ivan helped the region to flourish and remained popular throughout his presumed lifetime. The family has always been secretive when it comes to linage and heritage, therefore the birth and death of Ivan and his offspring has never been fully recorded. This had fed the idea that the baron is in fact the one and the same who came from the East over three hundred years ago, lived through the time of occupation, and joined the coveted Order of the Black Eagle along with the great leaders of this country._

'Not that I believe any of this rubbish but since such things like that red matter exists, which is possible that it's this so called Shadow… It can be true. Maybe leaving the castle isn't such a wise decision, especially if these Gatherers roam around the woods. But something tells me that they're in here. And Ivan is the baron? That would explain a few things… And who is this Vash? Again, I'm not so sure but anything seems possible. It looks like I've been trapped inside this supernatural nightmare. I better hurry now though and linger any longer.'

He put the note with the others and then continued to look around the area once more. It had occurred to him that some of the books were slightly light coloured and bulging out of the shelves. Then it hit him. He would have to pull them in order to open a passageway.

So he found one book in the shelves, creating that same rattling noise he had heard in his flashback. He must've done something right then. He quickly went to another shelf where he had recalled seeing another of those books, pulling it out as well. Then he ran to find the other one and pull it. A shelf was moved and it revealed a secret room, easing Arthur's mind once more. He looked around quickly before stepping in and then entered it.

Immediately he saw a desk right in front of him and on it was a key.

'I wonder what it's for. I should take it though, just in case I would need it later on.'

But after he had taken the key, he heard a loud growl and the sound of a door being harshly opened. The man jumped from the noise and gasped in fear, crouching to the nearest corner. He gritted his teeth in fear, holding onto his knees.

Once he felt safe, he got up and walked slowly to the side of the entrance of the room. He popped his head out, looking around to see if anything was there. Nothing again. This was becoming rather strange now. He thought that he should wait though for a while and went back to the desk, opening the top drawer and finding yet another piece of parchment.

_**Regarding the Closing of the Wine Cellar**_

_Ludwig, his brother Gilbert, and Gilbert's friend Antonio have endangered my research long enough with their absentminded handling of the human vessels. The sheriff is keeping a watchful eye on the forest and is killing my trusty servants. It's just a matter of time until they follow the trail to Braginsky. I need to lock Ludwig and the other two up to avoid further investigation from the public. The wine cellar will therefore be sealed off until the matter has been handled. Either the King's men leave or they will stave. Whatever comes first – they can rot for all I care._

_Maybe I will feed them some wine; it would in a sense solve both of my problems._

Arthur took a moment to think about what he had just read. If he wasn't mistaken, this was written by Ivan, the man he had been having flashbacks about. He had realised Ludwig was mentioned again in this letter and this time as an obstacle of what the baron had been doing.

'Why do I get such a sick feeling about these human vessels? What could he have meant? I guess I can try to get to the wine cellar to find out more about this since it seems very interesting.'

He took out his notebook, writing down yet another memento.

Go to the wine cellar next.

He wasn't so sure why he had wanted to go there in the first place but it gave him somewhere to go to at least.

After that, the Brit then put the note into his notebook and ventured out of the room. He noticed that now there was a door opened on the side of the room, one that he had completely missed from earlier.

"How the bloody hell did I miss that!? It must be because it's so dark in here… Oh well it's an exit at least."

He went out of the room, finding himself back in a very similar hall. It must have been the one he skipped earlier. He saw a door across him and went over there to attempt to open it.

It wouldn't budge though and something in Arthur's mind was telling him that he really shouldn't be trying to open it for something was in there.

Then it occurred to him that something was indeed in the archives with him, due to the event in the secret room.

'I should be very careful now… I don't want to run into that… thing or whatever it was. It broke down the door so it must be strong. Could it be one of those Gatherers? I don't know and I really don't want to find out.'

So he quickly took out his notebook and wrote down yet another note for himself.

Avoid these so called 'Gatherers.' I think I had almost run into one of them and they seem strong. Try to find out more about these creatures for they may lurk inside of the castle and that idea seems very likely now.

With that done, he put the notebook back into his jacket and walked down the corridor, which led into that huge room where he had found the piano and fireplace. He lit his lantern on and continued his way down there, but immediately turned it off and took a big step back once he saw that… that thing! It was the very thing that had broken down the door and it looked dangerous!

It had very saggy and pale skin, with ropes tied around it. Its eyes were bulgy, almost reptile like, and it's lower jaw… dear god his lower jaw was practically hanging onto his chest! One of its hands was a claw with blood stained on it.

His heart was now pounding, his was shaking, and he was grinding his teeth very badly at this point.

He took a moment to calm himself down and breathe before he went back to look at the hall.

He poked his head out to see if it was still there. Fortunately, the monster seemed to have left the area. Was it even there? Or was this just a hallucination that the man was having because his sanity was very low at the moment?

"Alright, I am getting out of here." He whispered to himself, now fast walking back to where he thought he had come from.

He went back to the hall he was in at first and heard that mooing sound again, followed by the same growling from earlier. He walked fast and quietly through the hall, trying to find the door where he had entered the archives from. The piano was once again playing. Anymore of this and he was going to go insane! Poor Arthur didn't seem so far from insanity though for now his vision was getting a little swirled now.

He looked around and recognised certain things, helping him back to the door where he had come from. But before he opened it and got out of there, he looked back.

"Is there anything else I must do here?" He asked himself quietly.

"Rawr!"

"No, I'm good!"

And the poor Briton ran out of the door as fast as he could.

**How was that for a story? *food is thrown at the writer and she whimpers* Yeah, I tried at least. This is officially the longest thing I have ever written… Ever! It came out to be 32 pages long alone with the story after adding in details. Eh I think I'll stop blabbing now.**

**Terms you shall probably need to know (Some not until later. To some readers these may be spoilers):**

**Braginsky: Aside from it being Ivan's surname, it also serves as the name of the castle. Originally in the game the castle Daniel (main character in Amnesia, the one who Arthur is) finds himself in is called Brennenburg (I'm assuming it's the surname of Alexander, who Ivan is substituting for), which is German for burning castle.**

**Algeria: A country in the Maghreb region of Africa. This is where Arthur and Professor Jones (Alfred) will go to do an expedition, where they will find an orb.**

**Orb: A relic that contains powers out of this world. As described by Arthur, it has a shimmering blue light radiating from it. Coming in contact with it seems to grant its wielder some powers, such as remembering alien memories which are not theirs.**

**Shadow: A supernatural force that guards the orb Arthur finds in Algeria. It will kill anyone who attempts to use its power for their own benefits. Its actual appearance is unknown but it leaves a red organic tissue in certain areas of Braginsky, blocking off the more direct path to the Inner Sanctum. It is unclear whether if it's a friend or foe to Arthur though often times and certain situations it seems more like an enemy.**

**Gatherers: The primary enemies of Arthur. They come in two variations: Servant Grunts and Brutes. Servant grunts are the more common types of Gatherers and also the weaker ones. The monster that Arthur had hallucinated (and yes, hallucinated) in the archives was the Servant Grunt. There is quite a lot of speculation about where they originated from and how they were created but just know they used to be humans. Brutes are less common but much stronger and faster than the Servant Grunts. They won't come into the story until later on. As well as the Servant Grunts, where they originated is unknown but one common idea is that they're dead already (presumably they used to be humans) and some magic force is used on them to make them move. The Brutes make the mooing and moaning sounds Arthur heard throughout the archives though it wasn't a threat to him, as well as the Grunt. They both have certain things in common and it's that one, they cannot speak (thought they make efforts with the sounds they make) and two, Arthur cannot kill them for he is not provided with a weapon and must use his wits to avoid them at all costs.**

**Diary entries and Notes: Like the game, they shall provide insight on more about the story and also giving hints to Arthur about who he was before consuming the Amnesia potion. Sometimes picking those up will cause for a flashback to occur. Also, notes can help Arthur out in completing a puzzle or solving a problem he must face in order to move on.**

**Flashbacks: Like the diary entries and notes, they provide insight to Arthur about what's going on. At times they will also give hints on what Arthur must do next in order to move throughout the castle.**

**Loading Screens: They're in italic between each of the scenes. I thought it'd be fun to include them as well since they seem to explain things about Arthur's past as well as reveal things about the back story of the game. **

**Note: I would like to give credit to the official Amnesia Wiki page for the Notes and Diaries. This is where I was able to get them. I also like to give credit to SanCo654 on YouTube because I watched his videos in order to have a reference of actions Arthur should take. **

**Well I hope I didn't bore you guys too much with this. Reviews are love **

**Arrivederci,**

**Kat**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again. I would like to take a moment to thank anyone who has taken their time to read this fanfiction of mine. I appreciate it very much and I really do hope I'm not doing a horrible job. I apologise if I seem to be redundant but I mean well.**

**Disclaimers: _Amnesia: The Dark Descent_ is owned by Frictional Games and _Hetalia: Axis Powers_ is owned by Hidekazu Himaruya.**

**Happy readings!**

* * *

_The desert dunes were like waves in a sluggish sea. While the caravan moved the land appeared motionless, but in camp the hills moved._

…

As soon as Arthur had gotten out of the Archives, he had been met by that red organic tissue that had blocked his way out of the castle. He gasped in fear, trying to keep calm, but in doing so he accidentally stepped on some of it and it had harmed him quite efficiently. He took a step back, his breathing very uneven. He jumped over the tissue in attempt to not touch it and found himself back in the Grand Hall.

Nothing had been changed since he went inside of the Archives, except for that red stuff. He walked back to the stairs and went down them, taking one look around again. Now what was he supposed to do?

Oh, of course. He took out his notebook and read the last note he had written. Yes, he was to find the wine cellar. But he hadn't a clue where it could possibly be located at. He looked to the side of the stairs and saw that dark passage he had seen from earlier. He saw that there were two signs on each side of the entrance of the passageway. The one on the right side said 'Laboratory' while the one on the left side said 'Wine Cellar.' Well that certainly saved him some time looking around for the wine cellar. He gulped as he soon realised he would actually have to go down there and do some investigating.

'Come on Arthur, don't be such a codfish. You can do this. You have the lantern with you. You are safe.'

The Briton gathered up his courage and walked to the dark passage, down the stairs and was met by two paths. He went to the left and checked the door that was there. When he tried to open it, he found out quickly it was locked and it needed a key in order to be opened. Ah but of course he had it with him already.

"Oh silly Arthur, you have it in the bag with you."

He took the key out and used it to unlock the door, soon entering the cellar once he opened it.

…

_A handful of sand trickled from the crumbling stone ceiling and pushed down on the brim of his hat. He braced himself on the cavern and suddenly shifted and settled._

…

He was met by a very dark area, not being able to see anything within a foot's distance. He turned on the lantern and sighed. There was a flight of stairs he had to climb in order to explore the area. So he went over to them and slowly went down, getting nervous from each creaking sound he made with each step. By the time he made it to the bottom of the stairs, he experienced yet another flashback, one that was not his.

"_Where did the baron go?" A tall and blonde man asked aloud to a pair of men who were drinking from a wine bottle, clearly enjoying themselves. _

_He had very serious look on his face, one that would intimidate anyone._

_One of the men drinking turned to him and gave a very big grin, taking a swig at the bottle he was holding. He had white hair and red eyes, looking a bit strange._

"_Who cares bruder? He left us enough awesome wine to last us a lifetime. Or at least until tomorrow!"_

_The albino gave out a strange laugh and was joined by the other man who had brown hair and green eyes. Eventually the green eyed man's laugh ended and soon he had begun coughing._

Arthur had been left confused after experiencing that flashback. He was certain that it definitely wasn't his own memory for he had never met such people in his life. He then noticed that there was a door in front of him and he titled his head, looking at it. He opened the door and entered the room, keeping the lantern on.

He shut the door behind him closed and examined the room. It was obviously a place where you would take your time and drink some wine and possibly not the only room that was like this. He walked through it and something had caught his eye from the ground.

He knelt down to it and saw that it was a small bottle. He picked it and read the label, seeing that it was Calamine. After reading the label, an earthquake had begun and shook the whole room, blocking the door with stone and logs of long wood, and a barrel from above Arthur had fallen to his head, making him black out.

…

The blonde didn't know how long he had been out when he woke up to a very dark room, almost not remembering what happened. He freaked out, heart pounding hard and loudly as he realised how dark it was in here. He looked around for the lantern and found it next to him, quickly lighting it up. He found the bottle of Calamine next to him as well. So he grabbed it, put it inside his bag, and got up from the ground. He looked towards the door and saw that it was blocked by wood and stone.

"Shit, now how am I supposed to get out?" He asked himself.

He went back to the other side of the room, looking around for a possible exit, but all he had found were boxes of Tinder and useless things. He began to panic a bit as he thought he was trapped.

'Calm down, Arthur. You can get out of this mess yourself. You just have to think.'

He looked back to the door and sighed. That seemed to be the only exit out of here. All he would have to do is move the stones and large logs of wood aside and he could get out.

He went back over there, trying to figure out how he was going to manage to do this. He lit a nearby torch and turned the lantern off, seeing he was running out of oil.

He set aside his belongings and began to push and pull at the rocks, getting it out of the way. The tricky part was the wood. For some reason they were difficult to move but the Brit had to find a way to get move them. So he tried different angles and managed to pull them aside, feeling accomplished once he cleared the way. He grabbed his things and got out of the room, being greeted by the chilly atmosphere of the cellar.

He looked to his side and saw that there was another open area, kind of eerie looking. Regardless, he decided to enter it, immediately regretting it when he heard chains rattling, follow gruesome screams of pain and gagging from the door on the side of the area. He looked at it, finding that something was trying to get out, making Arthur widen his eyes in fear and breathe frantically. After a while the sounds had stopped all together, making the man curious to see what was inside though very much afraid.

'What if it's that monster from earlier? No… I don't think so. Maybe I should just take a quick look to see what else I can find aside from this bottle of Calamine.'

He hesitated at first but he opened the door, taking a small peek inside. It seemed nobody was there but something horribly disturbing was found on the ground.

"A-are those… o-organs!? Human organs!?"

He scrunched up his nose from the horrid smell of the vital organs on the ground and looked away for a moment.

'I think I'm going to vomit…'

They definitely did not smell fresh and they didn't look like it either. So the Englishman entered the room, covering his nose from the terrible smell and explored it. It looked somewhat familiar to him, like that flashback he had just had. When he was able to see a table in the middle of the room, another flashback had occurred.

"_What's happening to me?"_

_The green eyed man from before fell to the ground, holding onto himself as he gagged in pain, tears coming from his eyes. _

"_I-it feels like… my chest is going to burst." _

_And indeed it did once a bone from his ribcage popped out of his chest, causing the man to bleed terribly from that same area. He screamed aloud, saying what sounded like prayers in Spanish._

_The albino man fell onto a nearby drawer, dropping it along with him and some other items. He felt his very bone pop out of his shin, making him scream in pain and holding onto it. He looked up to the blonde man who he had called his brother in German, wearing an expression of pain mixed with desperation on his face._

"_Mein Gott, Ludwig, do something!"_

_Ludwig looked back at his brother, eyes filled with sadness. He hadn't had any bones come pierce his skin yet he knew that soon he would be experiencing the same effects as his brother and his friend were._

"_Accept it, Gilbert. We're not getting out of here alive."_

_Gilbert's expression had changed from pain to anger almost quickly._

"_How can you say that!?" He looked back to the entrance of the room with eyes that were full of rage._

"_Ivan, you piece of shit let us out of here!"_

_He coughed harshly after his little outburst, a great amount of blood coming out of his mouth, along with what seemed to be his tongue._

Arthur grinded his teeth, eyes twitching, heart pounding, and hands shaking. His vision was now blurry and full of swirls. He had just lost it.

He couldn't go on… not anymore. But he knew he couldn't give up now. He had to keep on going, no matter how horrible things seemed.

He lightly slapped himself on the cheeks, trying to snap out of it. He looked to the side of the room, seeing yet another small open area was in there. There was a table in the middle of it with a small bottle and a piece of paper. Alright, so there was something here after all.

He moved quickly to the room, trying to not look down at the organs that were around him. He picked up the bottle of Aqua Regia and then looked to the side, seeing another piece or parchment on the table. He picked it and began to read it.

_Ludwig's Last Words_

_My name is Ludwig, house of Beilschmidt. These are my final words, my confession and testament. Two years ago I was summoned to the castle Braginsky. As most of the aristocracy, I was curious about what this supposed knight of the order could want from me and accepted the invitation. The baron was friendly and offered me a proposition._

_It dawned on me that the nature of the contract was sordid and that the reason I was chosen was because of the follies of my past and not the honours I've been rewarded with during my time as a soldier. I was to kidnap healthy humans upon his slightest whim and do so without asking questions. In return he would attest to my character at the royal court, advancing my position within noble society. I would like to claim that I struggled with my decision, but it came swiftly and I accepted wholeheartedly. _

_Ever since that day I've brought men, women, and children to Braginsky. I can't remember the numbers, but there are many, perhaps even a hundred. None of whom were ever seen or heard from again._

_Tonight the baron invited me and my men down to the wine cellar to celebrate our work. I had my suspicions as we descended the stairs, but he insisted and joined us in a toast. The wine tasted fine (though not as fine as Beer) and my brother and his friend drank without restraint._

_So begins the punishment for our sins. The baron has locked us up and returned upstairs. Forgive me for what I have done. I was weak and fell into his diabolic ways. Gilbert and Antonio are screaming, their skin has been pierced by their own tangled bones. I feel my insides revolt against the God given nature. Blood has begun to pour from my eyes and I can no longer…_

And the letter had ended right there. Arthur assumed that Ludwig must have had his own bones pierce through him, just like his brother and the Spaniard in that vision of his. There was a bit of stained brown stuff on the paper and he immediately assumed that it was blood.

He sighed and thought for a while.

So far the Baron of this castle, Ivan, seemed like an awful man. For what reason would you force soldiers to kidnap healthy humans? The very question made him shift uncomfortably for some reason. Something told him that his former self had known why… but the irritating part about that was that he couldn't remember what the reason was. If he wanted to find out, he had to continue throughout the castle.

He took out his notebook and began writing inside of it yet another note.

Look around for any alive humans here in this castle. Maybe they can provide some insight of what's going on. 

He finished writing the note down and then stuffed the notebook back into his jacket and sighed.

At this point, he was starting to see a potential reason to why he had instructed himself to kill Ivan.

…..

He had gotten out of the disgusting and horrifying area, finding himself looking around the rest of the cellar with the lantern on. There were a couple of other doors that led to different areas, all of them closed. It made the Briton very uneasy for he had no idea what would be behind them, but he figured it possibly couldn't get any worse than finding body parts on the floor, smelling terrible and making you want to puke.

He walked towards one of the doors and tried to open it. Not only did it not budge, no, but a moaning sound had come from behind along with the noise of shattered glass, presumably from the wine bottles.

The blonde grinded his teeth once again, now becoming a bad habit of his. If he were to ever get out of this place alive then he would find himself with no teeth at all for they were being grinded down to nothing.

He moved away from the door and walked to another door not far from where he was. He opened the door, ready for any noises to come from it. Nothing of sound came from behind the door so Arthur found it alright to enter the wine storage area filled with shelves and sections.

He closed the door behind him and looked at his right, and then at his left. He went to the left, walking slowly to what would be a dead end. On one of the shelves he saw that there was a small vial of clear blue liquid labelled as Laudanum.

A growl had filled the air after he had picked up the bottle. The Englishman turned to the right and saw a silhouette of what he knew was the monster he had seen earlier in the archives in the strange fogginess of the cellar. He gasped, turning off the lantern, and tried to hide behind the shelf, looking away from the figure.

It took a while before he heard it walk away slowly with heavy steps, giving up on finding Arthur.

The man's breathing hardened and now he was panting, frightened that the monster would come back. He looked at the direction the monster had come from and confirmed his belief that he was no longer there anymore, making him feel safe to come out.

So he walked back slowly, going past the door and exploring the area. He saw that a door was now open, leading back into the main cellar area. It was the exact same door the Brit had attempted opening earlier. He was now feeling very grateful that he hadn't managed to open that door now.

He walked around the storage filled with shelves of both filled and empty bottles. It made the man rather thirsty, but due to the flashback he had from earlier he didn't feel safe about drinking anything from these shelves. He eventually found yet another small bottle of chemicals, this time being Orpiment. He felt that he had no more business in the storage and decided to carefully find his way to the nearest exit, being well alert of anything that would possibly pop out.

He turned the lantern on again once he was in that same large area, looking around quickly for any other area he may have missed. And across from him was another closed door. He ran to it and opened it hastily, looking around for anything strange or suspicious. A small flicker of light, made by a candle lit that stood on top of a table in the room, had calmed Arthur down. He didn't dare question how recent it was lit and just entered the room, shutting the door behind him closed.

He walked further into the room and saw that a line of tools had been hung up on the wall. They had consisted mainly small saws and drills, something that could be a potential weapon for defense for the Briton. Unfortunately they were tightly kept on the wall by nails and pieces of metal restraining them.

"What are these, decorations!?"

He shook his head and examined the room quickly. It was full of lots barrel, which he assumed were probably full of wine or used for storing it at the very least. He turned his attention back to the table, only finding a bottle of Cuprite on it. He braced himself for a growl, earthquake, or anything else from happening. Nothing had happened after a while so it meant for Arthur to relax a bit.

He felt himself gain some of his sanity back and left the room, feeling a less scared of the atmosphere. He had explored every place in the wine cellar, finding some information about Ivan of Braginsky. His job was now done here so Arthur walked up the creaky stairs and headed towards the exit, not looking back.

….

_He sat down by the Casbah wall gasping for air. Sweat poured from his forehead and onto the sound veiled ground._

…..

That organic matter was there to greet him as he exited the wine cellar, just like the archives. He avoided touching it as much as he could, knowing it would do harm on him. He tripped though and had accidentally stepped onto it, causing him to flinch in terrible pain. He stepped back and braced himself to jump over it, succeeding in the task.

He saw ahead of the door to the laboratory, feeling an idea come to him quickly. Maybe he could create something with all the chemicals he had collected at the wine cellar. So he prepared to jump again, almost missing the goo but just slightly scraping against it.

He then spent no time to open the door, afraid for anything to happen.

…..

_After enduring three days in Algeria, a sailboat was finally arranged to take him across the Mediterranean Sea to Gibraltar. Having reached British territory, it was just a matter of reserving a cabin on SS Hortensia, headed for London. _

…

The area looked the same as the wine cellar but of course there were differences. For instance, only one area was available to the Briton when he walked down the creaky and wooden stairs, with the lantern on, and looking over to the side to see a passageway. There seemed to be three of them but two out of three were covered with piles of stones and spider webs.

He went to one of the blocked pathways to take a closer look at it. There really was no way around that mess so Arthur didn't give much more thought about it. He looked to the ground and saw a bottle of oil rolling around in the ground. How fortunate, thought the man as he bent down to pick it up. At this point he had about 2 or 3 bottles of oil, though he had soon come to realise that they all had different amounts inside of them.

As he picked up the oil, dusty wind blew from the blocked passageway, spooking the Englishman a bit. An eerie sound had also come out of it, making the man eager to move away as quickly as possible.

He went to the available path and found himself inside a dark and small lab. He took a little time to look around and ended up in front of a table, some burners, and a piece of paper.

_Chemical Relocation_

_The lack of chimney to properly vent the fumes from my most recent experiment has taken its toll on many of my less stable ingredients in the storage. Some seem unaffected, but many are stained by the fumes and will be difficult to salvage. I shall do what I can and move them to the wine cellar._

Well that explained why those chemicals were in the wine cellar in the first place instead of inside here. He looked walked to the other side of the room but paused when he noticed that there was a large and covered drain beneath him. He stared down at the drain, observing the water. Then he heard a growl, followed by the sound of splashes, as well as the visible evidence that something was indeed inside the drain. Arthur shook and breathed heavily and quickly looked away from the drain. His lantern had now turned off, making the Briton sigh.

'I should stop using the lantern so much and use the tinderboxes more.'

So he looked around the weakly lit room for a candle of some sort. He walked to the other side of the room and paused once he experienced yet another flashback.

_Ivan was at the table with the burners, examining the beakers of chemicals he had in his possession. He had them all above the burners, reacting quite wonderfully with the heat. Arthur stood at the side, observing the man working and wondering what he was up to and what he intended to do._

"_Hmm, there should be more cuprite." He said as he moved around the chemicals._

_They had no started to bubble and mix together as they were now emptied into a pot, making some sort of mixture._

"_And one part aqua fortis."_

When the flashback had ended, Arthur then knew what he probably should do now with the ingredients. He found a torch near the entrance of the room and used tinder to light it up. It had provided a lot of light to the room and calmed the British man down.

He continued to walk around the room and saw a small desk with a letter and a chemistry pot. He picked up the pot then the letter and read it the content.

_Early Alchemy Experiment_

_This is my third attempt to produce artificial vitae. The former compounds lacked the potency I need, but I sense I'm close. Calamine and Orpiment are a given and the Cuprite binds them well. This time I will attempt Aqua Regia instead of Aqua Fortis in hope it will produce a more even solution._

_The experiment was unsuccessful. The solution is highly acidic and proves impractical to put to any use except as detergent. Organic tissue reacts especially violently to the solution and should be handled with the greatest care. I might be able to use the recipe, but I'm losing hope that I will find an alchemic solution to my predicament._

The man now knew what to do so he took the paper in his hand, along with the other one he had collected earlier. He then next opened the drawers on the desk and found a tinderbox in one of them. The Brit looked over to the cupboard on the desk as well and then opened it. He saw that there was a cylinder shaped container with a shiny blue stone on the stop of it. There were drawings all around it, as if it was from another world. He reached out to grab it and immediately he saw white.

_One day I will return. If it wasn't for the thought of you, my love, I wouldn't be able to go on when I find myself doing terrible things, I take comfort in you._

_As long as I am able to think of you and long for a life together, I know I'm better than the others. I weep for them, they lust for power without restraint, where I only crave fair judgement and a safe return._

Peculiar… That voice had sounded like Ivan's. What was this thing anyway? It seemed almost like… a diary or a journal. Obviously this must be Ivan's thoughts since Arthur recognised his voice. This had provided some interesting information to the Briton about Ivan. He had a lover or perhaps maybe a wife? And what horrible things had he been doing? Alright so now he was starting to get pieces of information. He knew that soon he would have to put them together in order to find out what was going on. But for now he would just continue with doing the experiment with the chemicals.

He walked back to the other table with the burners. He paused for a moment as he heard a young boy's cries of pain. He looked around frantically, wondering where the cries could have come from. But it didn't seem very logical to Arthur since it was now somewhat proved he may be the only one in this whole estate, aside from Ivan, which his former self had claimed he was in the Inner Sanctum, wherever that seemed to be at.

"Calm down Arthur… it's alright. It's all in your head." He whispered to himself.

He continued to walk and immediately he set his satchel onto the table, taking out the chemicals from it. He then poured each chemical into the separate beakers that were already set above the burners. By the time he had poured the third one in, the earth rattled and shook beneath him, making him wonder what was happening. It sounded as if something large fell and broke. His vision now blurred slightly and he gave a small whimper of fear. Nonetheless, he continued to pour the last chemical onto the beaker. He set the pot underneath a small pipe where the mixture would pour into once he was finished with the experiment.

He heard footsteps and the noise of wood creaking. He looked to the side to see if anyone had entered the room.

It appeared no one was around and it was just his imagination. Yes, his sanity was once again started to fade and this time it was going more quickly.

He turned the wheel on the bottom of the burner to heat up the chemicals from bellow. The chemicals lit up inside the beakers and started to bubble lightly. Now it was time to turn the wheels above them so they would start to mix with each other. Arthur turned the first wheel, causing the chemical to react and go up one of the pipes. He turned the second wheel and watched that chemical do the same. Once he turned the third wheel, the earth shook again, in a way telling the Brit to hurry the process. He turned the final wheel and watched all of the chemicals mix together and pour themselves onto the chemistry pot.

The blonde picked up the pot containing the finished mixture and felt the sense of accomplishment overwhelm him once again. Now he felt a little more stable and secure, mind wise. He wondered what he should even do with the acidic substance. He set the pot down to the side for a bit and read one of the notes he had found. He read over the part where it was said that the mixture reacted quite violently against organic tissue.

Tissue? Arthur thought about that other door he found in the Grand Hall, remembering that whatever lay ahead of it was blocked by that red pulsating stuff. He took his notebook out quickly and hurriedly began to write another memento.

Use the acidic mixture on the tissue found behind the door in the Grand Hall.

Now that he knew what use that chemical mixture had, he covered it with a lid, putting everything he had taken out back into his bag, and left the small lab. As he exited the lab, he heard those cries again. He shook his head and tried to forget it but he couldn't. It was as if it was… haunting him.

The cries seemed to be the least of his problems now though since he saw that the stairs was now destroyed and in pieces.

"Shit!" He said aloud.

He attempted to turn his lantern back on but when it wouldn't turn on he realised it was because he had no more oil left in it. He groaned as he reached inside his bag for more oil and filled the lantern with some oil using one bottle. He threw the empty container aside and lit the lantern, looking for a way to climb back upstairs. He found some broken pieces of the stairs and then studied the distance between the ground and the top. A large part of them was on the ground, about a good 5 feet from the top of the stairs. He thought to himself and finally came up with an idea.

'I'll just use one of these broken pieces, put them in between those two large parts, and carefully walk up.'

So he did that exactly and found it successful though a little nerve wrecking since it was not a stable way to climb up. Either way he had made it back up and headed to the exit of the Laboratory, not having any intentions of coming back.

…..

_The cloth smelled of desert and damp musk. The pieces lay scrambled on top. Too many of them, he thought, or perhaps too few._

….

He expected that the red tissue would be there to greet him once he was out of the Lab and he was indeed correct when it had covered the walls around him, as well as the floor beneath him. He groaned as he quickly walked over it, flinching slightly in pain, and made his way back into the Grand hall.

He was now starting to believe that this Shadow existed and was making Braginsky crumble. He assumed that the red substance that had greeted him when he exited an area was what this supernatural being left behind. According to his former self, it could not be killed and Arthur only had the choice of running from it as long he could.

"Fantastic… Why the bloody hell is it following me though!?" He asked himself loudly.

He was starting to get a little annoyed by it to be honest and he had no idea how much longer he could tolerate it's presence before he just lost it. Maybe by going to the Inner Sanctum would he be able to maybe find out why. After all, it wasn't letting him leave the damn castle.

He marched over to the door where he found the tissue. He opened it and there he saw it still, pulsing as if it was breathing. The Brit took out the acidic mixture and took the lid off. He had to be very careful now, he thought, because if any of it spilt on him then it wouldn't be too good. He threw the acid at the tissue and immediately it had dissolved.

Arthur breathed out in relief as the substance had worked on the organic tissue. He passed through and saw that there was another door there. He opened the door and closed it quickly for he could he hear the Shadow's tissue pulsating.

…..

_It became impossible to avoid. The commotion in the streets begged for his attention. As he opened the shutters the French soldiers opened fire on the two young men fighting back. Their voices were silenced in a haze of gun smoke. _

…

He was met by a tunnel like pathway, ones you would see in mines. There was some lamps on the ceilings, there purpose being quite obvious judging by how dark the whole area was. He felt uneasy and walked down the passageway, not lighting his lantern yet in fear something was near. As he walked further into it he saw another flashback.

_He and Ivan were walking down the same passageway, with no light on at all. The Briton was nervous, looking around with his eyes wide._

"_It sure is dark in here."_

_Ivan kept a smile on his face looking over to the smaller man by his side._

"_Da, and there's good reason for it. But you can light the lamp now if you wish."_

_And Arthur did light it, sighing in relief. He looked back at Ivan to see that he was already looking at him, still smiling. He blushed and looked away quickly before speaking to him._

"_What's the reason? For the darkness, that is." _

"_Stay close- be careful not to stray."_

_The Russian didn't answer his question and that had made the blonde a bit annoyed and bothered by it._

"_What's the reason? Why is it so dark?" He asked more firmly._

_The taller man lost his smile and gained a serious expression._

"_Pay attention, Arthur. It's important that you keep going straight and make sure not to stray." _

_Arthur understood clearly from the expression Ivan had and his tone of voice that he shouldn't pry anymore so he tried to ignore the darkness around him. But it was very difficult to do so._

He hadn't been aware of when he turned the lantern on when the flashback ended, but he didn't necessarily care. He decided to turn the lantern off and light the lamps found on top of the low ceilings, knowing he had to preserve his oil. As he travelled through the passage, he kept hearing cries of pain and not only from a young boy. He heard dogs, women, men, and other cries that it made him worry a little. Was he really alone in this castle?

At the end of the passageway he found another large area that contains large barrels of who knows what. As he began to enter it he heard a loud growl, making poor Arthur jump back in fear and his vision blur. He ran through the area and entered another section that looked the same as the one before. There he heard a loud eerie sound and felt the ground shake beneath him. The Brit grinded his teeth together as he lit his lantern and looked for a way out of here. He saw on the side there was a wooden door and ran towards it, opening it quickly and closing it as soon as he entered the room.

He was now hearing sounds of dogs whimpering in pain, making him wonder where these dogs were. He looked around and saw that the room was full of wine bottles on shelves. He spotted a tinderbox and a bottle of oil on one of them and grabbed it. He looked around and saw nothing else but another door. He went through it and found himself in yet another room, identical to the other. He picked up a vial of laudanum he had found on the shelves and put it inside of his bag. He saw a table in the middle of the room, with yet another piece of paper in on it. He walked towards it but stopped immediately when a door in front of him opened suddenly by itself, causing all the available light from the candles to disappear.

Arthur breathed frantically and looked at the door, trying to see if there was anything, or rather anyone, there. When he saw that nothing was there, he proceeded to pick up the paper and read its contents.

_22 of June 1839, Return_

_Its been more than a month since my last entry. After the event inside the underground chamber in Algeria, Francis (Professor Bonnefoy) insisted that I return to England. He said he didn't want to risk forfeiting the entire expedition lest I took a turn for the worse. Bloody Frog… An excessive decision in retrospect, but strangely I'm glad it turned out that way._

_I found my journal this morning in a haphazard collection of things I brought from Africa. Next to it lay the broken stone orb wrapped in cloth. I tried to assemble it, but couldn't. The pieces wouldn't fit together, as if they weren't from the same object. Could I have imagined it all? Was there ever a complete orb?_

That orb again… Exactly what is it's importance? It connected to something bigger, but to what? He had already written down on his notes that he had to find more information about it so he knew he wouldn't forget.

He put the entry inside his notebook and then went through the opened the door.

It looked more like a drinking room rather than for storage. On the side he saw the red organic stuff pulsating, making the Briton gag a bit. He looked around the room and saw three doors. He first went to attempt opening the door on his left, finding that it was blocked from the other side.

"Something is there… I just know it." He whispered to himself.

He looked to the other side of the room and went to open the door that he saw there. When he opened the door, he was greeted by bones and a chopped off arm, a human arm, lying on the ground.

His eyes widened and he slowly went back inside the room, closing the door and shaking his head.

"I just did not see that… no. I did not."

He knew he would probably have to go outside again anyway so he took a deep breath and opened the door, ignoring the body parts on the floor. He looked to the side and saw another open door. He walked to it and peeked inside. His eyes caught another table with a piece of paper on it. He went towards it and stopped walking once he heard the door behind him close. He breathed in fear as he turned around back to the door. Who else was in the Refinery? He ignored the closed door for a while and read the paper on the table.

_25 of June 1839, Return_

_I feel the need to continue this journal, even though it was intended for my journey to Africa. This must be something very important, I just know it. I've taken it upon myself to piece the orb back together, but it's been more difficult than one might think. The pieces are behaving strangely. They seem to change colour, shape, and texture, but ever so slightly._

_Yesterday I took careful measurements and notated any significant markings. Today, I confirmed my suspicions. They were changing. I was terrified and went off to see the finest geologist in London, Mister Matthew Williams. I approached the subject with care, and we discussed how rocks change form. He told me about the nature of glass, how it eventually collapses on itself, like ice melting over the course of centuries._

_Williams eased my mind a bit, but I can't escape the feeling that these shards have otherworldly properties. _

Alright, so the orb was little strange itself. The Englishman wondered for a moment where it was at the moment. Had he possibly brought it with him? Maybe he had but he didn't know at the moment. His thoughts were caught off when he heard something trying to break down the door he entered from.

Arthur turned to look at it with fear, his teeth grinding against each other. He lit his lantern and waited for something to come inside. When nothing had come inside, he rubbed his forehead with his freehand and wiped the sweat off. This was becoming rather stressing for him at the moment but he had to go on. He looked to the other side and saw another door. He went through it and found himself in a small room, used for storage. Nothing was in here other than old bottles of wine so he went through another door that was slightly open.

The blonde found himself in the same drinking room he was in not too long ago. So now he was going in circles. He sighed and looked for a candle to light up. Once he did that he looked around the area and saw a stack of boxes against the wall.

'Is it just me or do I feel air coming out from that specific area?'

He went over to it and picked up one of the boxes. Smashing! He found that there was a small entrance to the room on the other side. He took the other boxes out of the way and crouched to get to the other side.

This room had the remains of the shadow around, making the Briton shiver slightly. He heard a roar and then the ground started to shake, making the man breathe frantically. Once it stopped, Arthur gained the courage to explore the room. It had two large barrels of what he now knew was wine, a barrel of oil (which he had used to refill his lantern up to three quarters), and a hatch that would lead him to somewhere underground. He tried to lift it but it was too heavy for him to open it with just his arms. He realised that there was rope that could lift it and the crank for it was across from him. He went over to the wheel and attempted to turn it but something had jammed it. He scratched his in confusion, wondering what was wrong with it. He followed the rope with his eyes that had led to the hatch.

"Ah ha!" He said aloud when he found the source of the problem.

A stick was clogged on one of the devices that would help lift the hatch. He tiptoed as much as he could and reached for the stick. He managed to break it in half and let the crank move the hatch. He smiled to himself, feeling a little proud. He went over to turn the crank and then went over to the hatch. He looked down to now open area and arched an eyebrow. Yes, he was worried but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

He jumped down from the hatch and took a look around. That tissue… it was following him. Luckily it was in walls around him and not on the floor so he was easily able to walk. He felt the earth rumble for a while and couldn't help but get the feeling that someone was mad at me. He was amused with the thought that it was the shadow who had been angered. Now why would it be angry? Because Arthur Kirkland had used his wits and found a way to progress through Braginsky? Now that he thought about it, it made more sense as to why the Shadow was blocking his way. Why did it want him to stay in the castle in the first place? He had no idea but in time he would know the answers, he just knew it. He went through the creepy and dark pathway, leading to another big door.

He opened it slowly and then a sudden feeling got to him. Something terribly wrong was about to happen.

…

_He crashed through the surface. The dark Atlantic water smothered him as he struggled to make sense of the situation._

…

Not long after Arthur entered the lit area did he hear an eerie roar. He walked a little more and suddenly he blacked out.

….

When he became conscious again, he immediately noticed that there was water that reached up to his shins. He had no idea what to think of the situation until he heard a roar and heard splashing coming towards him. His fear had taken over for him once he saw that something was coming after him in the water.

* * *

**I love having cliff-hangers in my stories, even though I absolutely loathe then when a favourite author of mine does it in one of their stories. Funny really but I still do it because it's so fun!**

**Update: I changed Professor Jones to Professor Bonnefoy. I thought it would seem more fitting if Francis was the professor. I have plans for Alfred :D  
**

**More terms:**

**Memory Capsules: A cylinder shaped item that contains an orb piece on top and is covered with alien writings all over it. Ivan uses these to record his thoughts and just by touching the capsule you can read his previous thoughts. These will contain his motives and reasons for what he has done in the past.**

**Laudanum: Think of these as healing potions. Arthur will be able to use these after he gets injured from the Kaernks or the Servant Grunts throughout the story.**

**Kaernk: The Kaernk, A.K.A. the water monster, is what Arthur has just encountered where we last left off. It's invisible and is actually from another world. It's also quite short and small yet vicious and deadly. Arthur better stay out of the water. Fun Fact: If you rearrange the letters of Kaernk, you can spell Kraken.  
**

**Note: I would like to give credit to the official Amnesia Wiki page for the Notes and Diaries. This is where I was able to get them. I also like to give credit to SanCo654 on YouTube because I watched his videos in order to have a reference of actions Arthur should take. **

**So that is all for now and hopefully I get to type the next chapter as soon as possible. Let's hope junior year of high school doesn't slow me down!**

**Arrivederci,**

**Kat**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again my fellow readers and welcome back to Amnesia! I deeply apologise for taking so long to get these chapters up, but I have valid excuses for this. The main reason was that I am currently busting my arse in school work these days and it's difficult for me to keep up. And secondly, I finally have betas! So quickly I would like to thank Ana (liltwiheart15) and Wendy (StellarCentric) for being betas for this chapter! **

**Oh and quick WARNING to you all. There is some yaoi included in this chapter and I shall warn you right now: if you don't like yaoi, then either scroll down and skip it or click on the back arrow a few times and find another story because from now on there will be some mature content in each chapter of that sort.**

**Disclaimers: _Amnesia: The Dark Descent_ is owned by Frictional Games and _Hetalia: Axis Powers_ is owned by Hidekazu Himaruya.**

**Happy readings!**

* * *

Arthur's breathing quickened as he stared at what was coming towards him. For his luck there were boxes floating around near him, so he ran over to them and jumped on top of them.

The creature stopped right in front of the boxes, waiting for the Briton to make his next move.

'Ah, so it's not very tall.' Thought the man curiously.

He looked around to see where else he could go to. The first thing he saw was a box not too far from him. So he tried to jump onto it. He landed in the water in front of it instead, but took no time in jumping on it and just barely avoiding the monster.

"This is great… just fucking perfect!" He cried aloud as he clenched his hands into fists.

The comment just angered the creature as it roared loudly, approaching Arthur with its loud splashes.

The Englishman knew he couldn't remain on the same box forever. The Kaernk was determined and it seemed like it was not going to leave him alone at all, no matter how long he didn't move. He glanced around and saw a lever on the other side of the room. He took in a deep breath before he jumped off the box and ran to the closest one, jumping on that one, and then taking a leap to another.

He reached out to pull the lever and then heard ticking noises. Bloody hell, whatever he had triggered was timed!

"It must be a gate…" He whispered to himself.

He almost stepped down from the box when he was reminded by loud splashes that the creature was still after him. There was only one way to get away from the monster, and that was to move as quickly as possible on top of the boxes and finding the gate he had just opened.

He prepared himself for a second or two before jumping to another box, then another, and then just running on the wet ground. Arthur quickly realised that the creature wasn't very fast. It was as if it was hopping in the water, which served as an advantage to the Brit. Still, he had to run away as fast as possible. He passed some shelves and on the way he picked up a bottle of laudanum. Good. Just in case he was to accidently jump in the water and get injured by that thing.

He hopped around more boxes and down a dark passage. The Shadow seemed to consume the area around him and stick to the walls. Well, that bloody tissue is the least of the blonde's problems right now.

Lucky for him the gate was down the passage, still open. Arthur ignored the boxes and just straight ran into the water and to the gate. Right behind him not too far was the creature. He gained more speed now and was right on Arthur's heels, attacking him.

The man yelped in pain as he felt the bite and blood come from his left leg. He shook the creature off and jumped onto the closest box. Now what?

He was injured quite badly and he needed to treat his injury, but the gate was going to close soon.

The Briton jumped off the box and made another run towards the gate with the monster not too far from him. He was so close, and he knew it.

He made it through the gate just in time as it closed right behind him and separated the creature from him. He ground his teeth together and whimpered in fear, very terrified at that moment. Arthur was still alive, though not too well. His leg was bleeding severely and he was feeling a little faint.

"Just relax, Arthur… Everything will be just fine."

But it wouldn't be. Not too long after he had said that, he heard splashing. He looked across the room and saw visible splashing coming towards him. He jumped onto the closest box and stared back at the roaring invisible monster.

He shook his head and looked away. He couldn't believe such things were happening to him! He was recalling the time when he was child and he believed in the supernatural and magical things, the good and the bad. But why did they have to come true in such a traumatizing and frightening way!?

He grabbed a vial of laudanum from his bag and applied it to his injured leg. As if it was magic, his wound had healed almost completely. He only had a few cuts and bruises but, he was well enough.

He jumped back into the water and ran across the room to jump onto another box. Right next to him was a gate that would lead him out of the room and away from the Kaernk.

He looked around and saw some human body parts on the box next to him. As grotesque as they seemed, they may serve of some use to the Brit. He grabbed an arm from the pile and threw it out very far to the other side of the room, hoping the creature would go after it. He felt relief when he saw the monster roar and start going towards the piece of meat offered to it.

Arthur took this chance to start trying to open the gate, which required for him to turn a wheel next to it.

He managed to open it about halfway and crouch underneath it, quickly making his way through the gate and open the door that was across from it. He quickly opened it and closed, finding the closest box and jumping on it. He still wasn't done dealing with the creature since he broke through the door and followed him into the area he was now in.

Now the man was frustrated with it.

"God damnit, why won't you just die!?"

He threw a box at it, angry with it, and then not too long after it was followed by a cry of pain. Arthur saw a yellowish liquid come from where he had thrown the box.

"Curious…"

He took his chances and jumped off of the box and into the water. Nothing was coming after him anymore. Did he just kill the monster? He felt relieved now that it wasn't chasing him and looked around the room, immediately spotting a door with a lock on it. He tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. There seemed to be a very weak lock on it, though. So if he could found something to pick at it, it might work. He looked around the room and then the shelves. Ah ha! His eyes locked onto the hollow needle and he grabbed it. He then went back to the door and started to pick on the lock.

He successfully managed to unlock the door and opened it quickly, feeling now a little saner than what he felt moments ago.

…

_Something large brushed against his leg and he felt himself being dragged along the current of the beast. He grabbed himself above the surface. "Help!" he cried, as the ocean swallowed him again._

…

There was still water in the area but there was no sign that the creature was here yet. He turned the lantern on to get a better look at the room. The red organic tissue was around the walls, making squishy sounds as it pulsated. He extinguished the lantern, not wanting to see any more of it. He saw another door across from him and he went over to open it and step into the next area, which appeared to be like a hallway.

He walked down the hallway and then heard a familiar roaring sound, accompanied by splashing.

He ran down the hall as quickly as he could. This time there were absolutely no boxes he could jump on and now he had to run as fast he could without getting killed by that thing.

He opened another door and then closed it behind him immediately. He paused for a moment to look at the door. He could see the door being pounded and hear the roars from the monster. He ran again in the familiar looking hallways and when he found another door he did the same as he did with the last one and kept running.

He ran around the corner and he was met by boxes, chairs, and other things blocking his way. The Briton could hear the creature banging on the door not too far from him so he quickly moved as much things as possible and ran to the closest door, closing it behind him as well. He was again met by items blocking his way but this time he tried to jump over it.

The water monster was not too far behind him and that only urged Arthur to move even quicker, not looking back. He made a few turns in the halls, hoping this nightmare would soon end. His prayers were answered when he found another door, one that surely the monster could not break down. He pushed himself to the door, ignoring the fatigue trying to take him over, and reached for the door, opening it as soon as possible and shutting it behind him, hearing echoes of the creature.

…..

_He felt himself being hoisted out of the ocean. The lacquered hull of SS Hortensia glittered in the soothing yellow light of a setting sun. He turned his head to the calm ocean reaching towards the coast of Portugal and thought, "Is this another dream?"_

…

He found himself being greeted by stairs that led to a large hall. At that instant he felt a wave of calm overwhelm him, telling him that everything will be alright for now and that he shouldn't worry. He walked up and the sound of wind from the left caught his attention. A door had now opened, beckoning him to enter. He turned away from it to see that in front of him was a fountain; however, it was no ordinary fountain.

Its spout looked like a winged centipede's body with a baby's face coming out of it, and then there was a pair of disembodied legs hanging over the edge of the fountain, presumably from a woman. Alright… that….is… disturbing. He looked away from it and took a moment to glance around the large hall. There was a staircase that led to the second floor with two rooms that he could access. Across from the door that opened itself was another one, leading to yet another area.

He decided that he would first go to the door that was opened for him and check out that area.

He walked slowly towards it and took a peek inside. It was a large area with stands holding the ceiling. An expensive and rather detailed carpet lay on the floor, leading up to another room of some sort. Two large lion statues were on each side of it, signifying that it was quite important. As he walked further into the room, a flashback overtook him once more.

_He and Ivan were walking down the same hall and headed towards the room. Arthur opened his mouth in awe as stared at it._

"_You have an "ascending room." Will it take us to the Inner Sanctum?"_

_The large Russian man shrugged as he opened the gate and entered the small area. _

"_It will definitely take care of the vertical part of our journey. So, you have ridden an elevator before?"_

_The Briton nodded as he followed behind the other._

"_Yes, the Coliseum at Regent's Park has one. It takes you to the gallery where you can view the panorama."_

_Ivan smiled and motioned for the man to come inside the elevator. Arthur obeyed and got inside, standing next to the other. The gate was shut now and Ivan pulled the lever down, the elevator now starting to go down. _

"_Good. This ride may be a little longer – and in the other direction."_

He had a gut feeling that this was where he was supposed to go. Wherever this elevator lead to would be his destination. He walked into the ascending room and closed the gate behind him. He tried to pull the lever down on the side but it wouldn't work. He huffed in frustration and crossed his arms.

He shouldn't have thought this would be simple.

He exited the room and looked around the area. On the right side of him was another room, and he already knew what it was.

'So I haven't forgotten everything I suppose…"

He walked towards the entrance of the machine room and tried to open it, but it was locked.

Arthur ran a hand through his hair and groaned. It required a key to open it and he hadn't a clue where he was supposed to find it. Unless…

He closed his eyes and started to think deeply and hard. He hoped that this would help him remember anything important. If he was able to remember that this was the machine room and he needed to get the machinery in there working, then he could remember where the key could be.

After a while of thinking, he finally remembered.

"My room… the guest room… it was here in the hall. It was one of the rooms on the second floor." He whispered to himself.

He ran back to the main hall and went up the stairs. He went to the room closest to the left and entered it.

…

_He climbed out of bed and looked out the window. It was completely dark. He waited, glanced at the old clock, and waited some more. Four o'clock, he thought. It's enough._

…

The room was obviously searched. Everything was in a state of mess. Drawers were opened and thrown onto the ground, tables were turned over completely, and some things were broken by force. A vision overtook him almost immediately after entering the room.

_Arthur entered the room alone and looked shocked at the mess. He looked around frantically and started to walk around. He looked over to one of the desks and gasped. He moved things around in attempt to look for something, but only grew more upset and agitated that he couldn't find what he was looking for._

"_My journal is gone. What would they want with my journal?"_

In the flashback, he was in the same exact room, which was also in the same state of cleanliness. The room consisted of three areas: The working space where you would first enter, the actual bedroom, and the closet. The door to the closest was shut but the bedroom door was open. He headed in there first to see where he would start searching. A desk on the side of his bed had all of the cupboards and drawers opened. Whoever it was that was in here, they were looking for something… or rather someone. It had to be him they were looking for, but why? Maybe they are the ones who had scattered pieces of his journal all throughout the castle.

He stopped thinking about that and searched for that key. A crowbar was on top of the desk, laying there as if it was an obvious sign that he would be needing it. He grabbed it and held it with one hand, using the other to search around the desk. So far he had only found another tinderbox, but that was about it. He sighed and continued to look around.

A small table was next to the desk and on it laid a journal entry of his. He reached out to grab it and read it.

_2nd of July 1839 - Revelations_

_I received a letter today from the Algerian governor's office disclosing the fate of Francis's expedition. About a week after my departure, Abdullah, one of the men travelling with us, returned from the desert. He was badly injured, as if maimed by a lion. The man rambled deliriously about the expedition being attacked by something horrible._

_The French quickly dispatched a search party to look for the expedition. After searching for days, they found the camp abandoned without any trace of Francis and his men. Tomorrow I'll retrieve the things they recovered from Francis's tent at the customs house. I don't know what to make of it, but I'm worried for him._

Peculiar how afterwards the men disappeared. He was getting a very bad feeling from it all.

He set the letter inside his notebook and continued to search the bedroom.

He turned to examine the bed and saw a small pool of blood on the side. His eyes widened in surprise but he reached out to the bed to touch it, triggering another flashback.

_The British man tossed and turned in the bed. His forehead was wet from the sweat he had produced during his sleep. He clenched his hands on the sheets beneath him, his teeth grinding against each other. _

"_N-no… No!" He said aloud in his sleep._

_He panted heavily as he writhed more in his bed. Ivan entered the room, taking a moment to examine the blonde in his bed. A worried expression appeared onto his face and quickly he went over to the side of Arthur's bed, reaching out with his hand to shake him awake._

"_Arthur?"_

_The man opened his eyes and gasped in fear. He breathed in heavily and looked at the other man, calming down. _

"_What?" He asked, wondering what was going on._

_The Russian sighed and sat down on the side of the bed. "Still having nightmares, I see."_

_The Briton sat up and nodded slowly. "Yes, I can't shake them. They come every night."_

_The violet-eyed man smiled._

"_We'll put a stop to them, you'll see."_

_He leaned inwards to the small blonde and kissed him on the lips. The other widened his eyes but not much longer after he closed his eyes and kissed back. He moaned into it, enjoying the sensation that ran through his whole body._

_In his mind, he knew this was sinful. It went against everything he had been taught, against the ways of God. But these blissful feelings made him set his beliefs aside and commit this unholy act._

_He felt hands run up his sides, lifting up his night gown. He hadn't worn any undergarments to bed and the thought of it made him blush. Ivan knew this once he took Arthur's night gown off and glanced at his body. He smiled and kissed the man's neck, making him gasp in pleasure. One of his skilled hands reached down to the Briton's member and stroked it, springing it to life and causing him to become erect._

"_A-ah! Hah, Ivan… mmm hah…"_

_The other muttered something in a language that was neither German, Russian, nor English, but Arthur could care less about what he had said at the moment._

When the flashback ended, Arthur stood at the side of the bed, shocked at what he had just seen. Embarrassingly enough he felt himself become erect.

"No, not now… not at time like this." He whispered to himself.

He had some sort of strange relationship with the Baron it seems, but he hadn't known it was that way until now. In a way, he was glad that vision ended. Anymore and he would have to take care of his problem properly. His erection wasn't bad enough so he knew that it would go away in a while. To distract himself, he continued to search the room, finding out that it had worked successfully, but still no key.

He exited the bedroom and looked over to the desk he had seen in the flashback from earlier. There was another journal entry on top so he picked it up and read it.

_3rd of July 1839 - Revelations_

_Today I picked up Francis's things at the customs house. I dug through the trove of documents he had carried and found a log detailing the expedition. The nature of this text ranged from quick notes to colourful accounts of transpired events. I skimmed the pages, trying to figure out what might have happened._

_May 17, the day I was trapped inside the orb chamber, Francis dryly states:_

"_Recovered Arthur after one hour of entrapment."_

_This confused me greatly. I was suffocating within minutes. How could I have lasted an hour?_

_I continued reading the peculiar text. Francis states his facts without judgement or passion, but suddenly I could frustration from his text. He pushed his men to investigate the underground tomb, an effort which seems to have strained the minds of his men. Madness spreads through the ranks, and Francis had to take some extreme measures to continue. He finally visits the chamber himself, where he retrieves the orb to the surface._

_His account confuses me greatly. If he has the orb, what are those pieces in my drawing room?_

That was… rather strange.

The man read it through once more before he put it with the rest of his journals. Everything had just become more difficult. He didn't even comprehend what was going on in the castle to begin with.

Nothing else seemed to be on the desk, which left one more area to search. He turned to the side and went over to the closed door. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge. The door was stuck due to a broken lock.

But he had the crowbar. Perhaps this was why it had been out in the open in the first place. He set it against the door and its frame and began to pull it to the side. It didn't take much longer for the door to finally break open and trigger yet another flashback.

_Arthur entered the room and looked around, worried and sweating._

"_The key… please let it be here."_

Short, but it provided help to the man since he now knew that the key must be in here. But where? In front of him were two drawers, one of them having another journal entry in it. He grabbed it and read it quickly.

_4th of July 1839 – Revelations_

_It's done! The orb is assembled. I was awakened by an exhausting nightmare. Shaking and sweating, I retired to the drawing room with a cup of tea. The relic pieces lay spread across the table as I'd left them. But somehow, I knew how it was supposed to be. I fetched the tar, which I had prepared to fix the pieces together, and without fault, I joined them, producing the orb I remembered so clearly. The tar proved unnecessary. It was pushed out from the joining pieces as they merged on their own with no adhesive._

_The ancient stone relic now rests on my table. Its immaculate surface and perfect shape could have been melded by a factory. This is all too strange. _

Indeed it was. The orb was proving to be more important, it seemed, but he had no idea why. He figured that he should be able to find out more if he found more entries from his journal. He opened the drawers and found nothing in them but shirts. He looked at the closet on the left but nothing that resembled a key was there. In hope, he went over to the right side of the room to examine the already opened closet, just in case he may have missed something.

Then he heard a banging sound accompanied by a familiar growl.

He gasped as he turned around. He peeked outside of the door and his eyes widened as he saw that monster with the deformed jaw heading his way, already aware of his presence.

He shut the door quickly and headed towards the open closet. He jumped inside and closed its doors, panting heavily with his heart racing. He heard the monster hit the door once, twice, and then a third time, just to get the door open.

He opened the closet door just a little to see that the monster was now inside the room, searching for him. He closed it again in fear and waited patiently, trying to calm himself down and not make much noise.

The monster made strange breathing noises, growling lowly as he walked around. Its footsteps were heavy and slow. He heard them fade a little, followed by a door being opened and closed.

"I think he just left…" Whispered the Brit.

Although he thought that, he waited another 5 seconds before he came out and took a glance at the area. It had left, and for some strange reason it closed door. What a strangely polite act for a monster, he thought.

He groaned in frustration afterwards, though. The key was nowhere to be found.

A draft occurred in the room, causing for the portrait on the side of the room to shift a little. Arthur looked at it and arched an eyebrow. There was something hidden behind it. He removed the portrait from its place and saw a space behind it, with a small glass bottle that held key inside. A vision of white occurred, signalling yet another flashback.

_The blonde removed the same portrait and observed the glass bottle. He sighed in relief and gave a small smile._

"_Oh, thank God, there it is. I guess it's a good place to hide it, then."_

And it was. If it weren't for the draft, he knew he wouldn't have been able to find it. He grabbed the bottle and smashed it against the wall, now able to retrieve the key. He felt better now after that whole incident with the monster. Speaking of which… it was probably out there.

Arthur knew that from now on he had to be more careful, more cautious. Those things were obviously after him, even though he had no clue as to why.

With that thought, he grabbed the key, left the area, and headed towards the exit, going now to the machine room.

…..

_He flipped through the book of monarchs looking for etchings and counted. Nine different kings from all over Europe had been depicted with an orb resting in their hands._

…

He stepped out of the guest room and shut the door behind him, taking a deep breathing in and then out. He opened his eyes and they grew wide as saucers. There was now a human torso of a man, with no head or arms, in front of him on the ground.

That was not there before.

The safe ambience that had once been in the hall vanished completely and the feelings were now uncomfortable and unsafe like the other parts of the castle.

The Brit walked around the torso and tried to ignore it, thinking of something else. That something else happened to be that flashback he had when he examined the bed. Surely his former self didn't want him to recall such things like these, along with the things he still had to figure out for himself.

His body felt hot thinking about it and his head couldn't think much. He shook it off and ran down the staircase, trying to get those thoughts out of his head and head back to the area where the machine room was at. He took the key out of his pocket and used it to open the door, hoping the whole thing would drop.

…

_He panted heavily, trying his best to keep himself from screaming. The medicine cabinet had been overturned and lay collapsed the floor. He reached through the broken glass door and grabbed all the sedatives he could find._

…..

If there was one thing he remembered, it was the machine room. He recalled spending some time in here, fixing certain things for the baron and running some errands. The room was usually a stuffy area to be in, with pipes all over to the ceilings and walls, sometimes making it difficult to move around. The bright side of it was that there were lamps all over the place that provided a light source, very convenient to Arthur.

On his left there was a staircase heading downwards and in front of him another area to explore. He went forward and through the open wooden door on the side and found himself in a very dark area, only lit by the candlelight that radiated from the side of the room. A desk was there and it had another paper on it. He went over to it and grabbed it, reading it.

_5th of July 1839 - Haunted_

_Today I went to the university looking for answers. I was able to sneak into Francis's office and pick up an address book along with some relevant text books._

_Professor Eduard von Bock at the faculty of history was very helpful and I managed to approach the subject of the orbs. The most interesting aspect was the prevalent trace they had left in our culture. The mythic orbs may in fact have inspired the Globus Cruciger which so many royal regalia holds to this day. In ancient times the orbs were held by priests as a symbol of the sun and its power._

_As I was leaving I overheard disturbing conversation. Sir Matthew Williams, the geologist, was killed last night. Less than a fortnight had passed since I'd asked for his expertise. I know it's silly, but I can't help feeling responsible somehow._

That was interesting information though not relevant to how he would be able to get the elevator running. He put the entry inside of his notebook and moved away from the desk. He lit his lantern so he'd be able to see the other side of the room. On the wall there was a console that consisted of six levers with roman numbers above and bellow them. He remembered that this would regulate the steam pressure. Problem was that he had no idea how to do so.

He groaned in frustration at the thought of it. Surely there had to be instruction somewhere around. He briefly looked around the room, but all he found were tinderboxes that had been hidden underneath other boxes.

The man decided that he should leave the room and look elsewhere for anything else that would be useful.

He exited the room and headed in the other direction down the staircase. Large pipes stood in the middle of the path, making it very annoying for the Brit to walk through. He spotted a door on the left side once he got to the bottom of the stairs and went towards it, opening the door and entering the room.

It was dark like the others with only a lamp lighting the room. He walked to the right side of the room and saw a cogwheel on top of a box, with a trunk next to it. He ignored the wheel and opened the trunk, finding two tinderboxes inside. He turned the lantern on, feeling very nervous now and able to see more clearly. He then moved towards the left and saw that there was another type of console on the wall. Tractātio fluxus, which was in Latin but unfortunately Arthur's Latin wasn't very clear the moment. He did know that you needed specific types of rods to fit into the three holes that had different shapes on above of them.

He looked over to the side and saw another piece of paper on top of a box. He went over to it and picked it up, seeing what was written on it.

_Machine Equipment Memo_

_Note that there are only two spare rods left in the storage for the elevator machinery. Make sure to only discard the ones that are badly damaged and keep the ones in the inner Study rooms in case all three would crack._

It was a short but very useful note. He knew that you had to get this console to work in order for the elevator to properly run and for that you needed the rods. At least now he knew where he would be looking for them.

He shoved the note into his pocket and took out his notebook, writing a memo down so he wouldn't forget.

List of things to find for Machine Room:

-Three Rods: Two can be found in the storage room and the other in the Study room.

He put his notebook back into his jacket and turned to the other side of the room. There was yet another paper that lay on top of a small desk. He went over to it and saw it was yet another journal entry. He read it carefully, wanting to find out more about the strange events that occurred to him before.

_14th of July 1839 - Haunted_

_I've read every book I can find on the subject. While rich in legend and hearsay, my knowledge is lack for the insight I crave. I've sent letters to many in Francis's address books, and received answers of varying importance. _

_Today I got one which differed greatly from the others - from a baron in Prussia, though judging by his name, he is Russian. He said nothing about the quaint stories of priests in underground temples. He didn't even mention them. He simply wrote:_

"_I know. I can protect you. Come to Braginsky castle." Signed Ivan._

_What am I to make of this? Protect me from what? Is someone after me? I looked up Braginsky and traced it to the Prussian woods near the Baltic Sea. Whilst being the least informative letter I've received, it causes me greatest distress and interest._

_As I write my thoughts are drawn to my nightmares in which a most disturbing sound calls to me. A sound defying description, a voice from the void. The last few weeks have been awful with so many sleepless nights dreading a repeat of those horrid dreams. Tomorrow I shall visit my physician, Doctor Ravis Galante, in hope he can provide me with sedatives to help me sleep._

That reminded him of that flashback… the one about him having a nightmare. So it was occurring before he had come to the castle. It was intriguing and he knew he had to find out more about this specific topic.

He put his journal entry back inside his notebook and left the room, turning to the left and going down the stairs that were there. He walked down the corridor and entered a very dark room. The closest corner to him was lit by yet another candle that sat on top of a small desk, with another journal entry beside it. He grabbed the paper and began to read it, amused by what was written on it.

_17th of July 1839_

_How has this escaped me? They're all dead. Limbs scattered, heads split down the middle, their skin flayed as if boiled. I feel like I'm falling into myself. What's happening? Sir Matthew Williams, Professor Eduard von Bock, and now Doctor Ravis Galante. Is it following me? How can it not be? It's the damned thing I brought from Africa! Something is after me._

_I have no choice but to trust the baron. He better know what he claims. If he is wrong, I suspect he'll regret it as well._

"The Shadow… that was what was following me." He muttered to himself.

It became clear to him now how the orb was all related to this.

The Shadow and the orb were connected somehow, and it was most likely that the powers with the orbs included it. But it was a problem and it was dangerous, thus the reason why his former self had come here. He felt relief now knowing his purpose for being here. That makes one thing figured out. Now why would he want to murder Ivan? He sighed, having the feeling he wouldn't be finding out anytime soon, or at least not in here.

He put the paper with the rest of his entries and lit the lantern so he could see the room. Ah, so now he was in the main machinery room. He made his way over to the large machine and examined it. He noticed it was missing three cogwheels in the middle and he immediately remembered.

'Oh yes, I saw one in the other room. I should go back to get it…' He thought to himself.

He turned around and headed towards the exit, but something caught his eye. Behind some barrels and boxes against the wall, there was a cogwheel. He grinned to himself and went over to grab it, throwing it over next to the machine, and then leaving the area to go back up the stairs. As soon as he reached the top, he looked over to one of the sides and saw another cogwheel, hiding against the wall and the pipes. Good, it shall save him time looking for the other one.

He grabbed it and went quickly back to the machinery, throwing the wheel next to it, and then leaving the room once more to get back up the stairs. He went to the room where the rods would be placed and got the cogwheel from the box. He head back to the machinery and set the wheel next to the others, taking a breather before continuing.

"Wow… I'm getting a lot of exercise this evening." He said to himself.

He set aside his bag and kept the lantern lit next to him. Arthur took his jacket off, rolling his sleeves up and started to fix the cogwheels to their places. It wasn't very difficult, and after a while he finally got them to their correct positions. Next to it was a lever which would operate the wheels and get them moving. He pulled it and saw that the machinery started to move. But not too long after they stopped and left a very confused blonde frustrated.

He pouted and crossed his arms, moving his eyes around to see what could have gone wrong. He looked over to his side and saw a burner next to the machinery.

"Oh! Now I know what to do! I need coal, but where would I find it?"

He grabbed the lantern from the ground and swung it around the area to see if there was any sign of coal. Luckily for him there was a room not far from him where there was an abundant amount of coal inside. He went in and looked around, feeling glad it was conveniently here. On the corner there was also a barrel full of oil, which he used to refill his lantern until it was full. Wonderful, now he'd have plenty of oil for a while.

He grabbed one bunch of coal and then went over to the burner and put them inside. He did two more times and afterwards the burner was full and ready to work. He closed the lid and pulled the lever to next to it to have it start working. Once he heard the crackling sound of something being burned, he went over to the machinery and pulled the lever again.

It ran a little longer this time but it had stopped once again. Now the Brit was annoyed. Apparently it needed more work, but nothing else seemed like it had to be fixed. Then he remembered about the pressure and the rods. He'd have to leave the Machine room and go to the other two rooms he hadn't visited yet before fixing the rest of the machinery.

'Damn… I'm very forgetful now… yet again I always have been. William would always make fun of me because of that… wait… William.'

He remembered something else from before. He now remembered his oldest brother, William. He was a bully but he was wise and helpful if Arthur asked. Oh, and there was also Sean and Connor, also older than him and bloody hell were they a pain in the arse! And then there was Peter, his younger brother who had been sick since he was a child.

"Oh yes Peter… I wonder if he's alright…"

He smiled a sad smile, feeling wonderful that he now remembered his brothers but also upset that he had forgotten them. He hoped that they were all in good health and taking care of themselves well. Had they known he was going to Prussia? Maybe he'll find out later on.

At the moment, he was just glad he remembered something else. Perhaps an amnesia potion couldn't make you forget everything.

* * *

**Alright so Arthur's brothers have been introduced here indirectly and they should be coming up in the story more often. So quickly here's a list of who is who.**

**William – Scotland (Supposedly his name is Allistor, but I personally think William is much better. Besides, the creator of Hetalia encourages us to make up our own names.)**

**Sean – Wales**

**Connor – Ireland **

**Peter – Sealand**

**As I had mentioned before, mature content will now regularly occur in the story (Well it is rated M…) and some things will be quite disturbing, but yet again this is a story based off of Amnesia: The Dark Descent so of course it'll be grotesque in certain points. **

**Fun fact: You can actually kill the Kaernk and you do that by either hitting it a few times with a box or throw a box at it one step before he jumps there.**

**Note: I would like to give credit to the official Amnesia Wiki page for the Notes and Diaries. This is where I was able to get them. I also like to give credit to SanCo654 on YouTube because I watched his videos in order to have a reference of actions Arthur should take. **

**So hopefully I don't take too long on the next chapter. I have about half of it done at the moment so I should be having it ready by the beginning of November if anything. Anyway I shall continue to write now.**

**Arrivederci,**

**Kat**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey Guys! I'm really sorry about not updating very soon. I've just been having a lot of issues lately and my betas have been quite busy lately so I couldn't get this up any sooner, even though I finished it before Halloween. So anyway, here it is, much longer than past chapters!**

**WARNING: Yaoi and Murder is mentioned in this chapter.  
**

**Disclaimers: _Amnesia: The Dark Descent_ is owned by Frictional Games and _Hetalia: Axis Powers_ is owned by Hidekazu Himaruya.**

**Happy readings!**

* * *

_Professor Eduard von Bock was the second death caused by his damned curiosity._

….

The Briton had left the machine room and headed towards the staircase, walking slowly as he started to ponder about his own past. So far he remembered certain things about Castle Braginsky, his expedition in Algeria, and his brothers. That wasn't too bad of a progress, he admitted. He wasn't too sure how his former self didn't want him to remember things such as those though. They seem harmless (for the most part) and highly necessary for him to know, so why did he drink that potion?

He took out the letter he had written himself and read over it, trying to see if he misinterpreted or missed something. All he was able to comprehend was that his former self wasn't sure if the potion would do its job properly in wiping off his memory. It turned out that it had its few flaws, but for the most part he could not remember much. It irritated him deeply, the whole amnesia thing. He couldn't believe how dumb he was when he was even thinking about consuming the drink. Why would he do such a thing in a dangerous place like Braginsky Castle?

At that point, he sat down on the stairs and sighed, taking sometime to sit down and think through his actions.

His motives for going throughout the castle were different than what his former self had instructed him to do. He himself was on a dangerous quest on discovering why he was in the castle and why he wanted to murder Ivan, not wanting to kill the baron like his former self wanted.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Its starting to sound ridiculous… it's like the person I was before the potion is different from who I am now…"

But perhaps he was a different person. Maybe it was what he wanted, but he just didn't remember it. All his thoughts were starting to give him a headache so the Briton decided to stand up and go towards the Study to find one of the rods he would need. He was no longer in the mood to question himself.

…..

_The strange letter frightened him, but it was also the only one which offered some comfort._

….

He found himself in a corridor similar to the ones he had encountered earlier in the archives back when he was still starting out. There were, however, no holes in the roof or natural sunlight coming through. The hall was lit with candles, making the man feel somewhat eased. What seemed very unordinary and disturbing, was that he was hearing whimpering sounds of pain that are usually from dogs. They echoed through the area, having a very phantom-like pitch to it. Arthur knew for sure that there certainly weren't any living creatures in here, especially in a place like this.

He took a moment to observe his surroundings, noticing two doors in the hall across from each other. One was open and the other was not. He decided to go towards the closed door in the left side, hesitating a little before opening it and glancing at what seemed to be a parlour, filled with shelves of books. The windows at the very end of the room, natural moonlight shined on two chairs and a desk in between them, as if signifying something. No flashback occurred but he definitely recognised this room. It was a place where he and Ivan had several conversations with each other. His gut told him it regarded information about the orb and possibly some other… events that happened between the two of them. Again, he didn't want to think about it at the moment so he forced his mind into thinking something else, such as the piece of paper that lay on the desk.

He picked it and read what was written on it.

_Letter Regarding the Discovery of an Orb_

_To my most trusted student and friend Lilli Vogel. _

_The most remarkable thing happened as I was travelling through the Prussian woods this summer. I finally found one of the orbs I have been looking for the last twenty odd years. It is as inexplicable as the Helidromus described it in the Hortus Conclusus. It was as it was told about, an underground Mithraic temple crowned with the unearthly artefact. The orb was big enough to fill my cupped hands and the texture was smooth and jagged – its colour washed while rich. Contrast is not enough to describe its nature. It was an impossibility, an artificial paradox captured within stone._

_I was staying in a nearby village called Altstadt, investigating one of the antiquated trails, when I finally found the cavern. I went inside and suddenly I could verify the truth of these enigmatic artefacts – they were real._

_As you can understand, this is the most important discovery of my life, but it has also become my greatest fear. As I entered the underground chamber I could feel that I was trespassing. Because of my curiosity I did my best to fight these instincts and fetched the orb from its place. I scrambled out of the chamber and into the woods. I could sense something was following me; it bayed loudly as it closed in. The beast, the guardian of the orb, was relentless in its pursuit._

_I made my way to a nearby ravine where I stumbled upon some men fishing in the lake. I tried to warn them as I passed, but fortunately they remained as I continued my escape. When I heard their cry of pain echo through the valley, I felt such a tremendous sense of relief, thinking I would be spared._

_Suddenly a blue shimmering light engulfed me and the colours of the forest were washed away before my eyes. I kept running through the bleak surroundings, the trees had turned charcoal black with leaves of cinder, the ground covered in murky water. I pressed on through the drenched land as the glowing ember gave way to the rising wind and rained on me. I could hear pleading screams in the distance and I joined in as pain and fear overtook me. I fell to the ground, gasping for air._

_This certainly may sound strange, but I had been carried miles away across the Alps to a grassy field outside Genoa. The guardian had taken the orb from me, but still until this day I fear its return. Sometimes I lay awake at night listening for the howling cry I heard in the forest. It has been nearly a decade since that day and I still haven't been able to write about the incident._

_The last time we spoke you told me about your interest and ongoing research into the mythic orbs and I realised I owed you the truth about my visit to Altstadt. _

_Your friend and mentor,_

_Vash Zwingli _

Arthur was certainly very interested in the letter. Someone else had similar experiences with the orb and he had survived.

"Vash Zwingli…" He muttered to himself.

He heard that name from somewhere before, he just knew it. He started to ponder a bit and then he remembered.

'Oh yes, he was the man mentioned in the notes I picked up earlier in the archives… I didn't pay much attention to that specific section.' He admitted to himself. Perhaps he should've and as he thought that, he took out those notes out and reread the section _A Visit Undone_. It said that Vash had denied ever going to Altstadt in the first place and that it must have been some other man who visited the town. But according to this letter (which appeared to be very legitimate to the Brit), he had gone to Prussia and on his trip there he discovered an orb, plagued by the same Shadow that was now hunting Arthur down. The Guardian of the Orb…

Now it was clear to the Briton as to why that thing was following him in the first place. It was angered and it just wants the orb back. The blonde would gladly give it back to the Shadow and hope it would just leave him alone. Just one problem… He hadn't the slightest idea where the bloody hell that orb was.

He face palmed himself as he groaned, closing his eyes for a while as he just realised how much more complicated this all was. He swore that he was going to relax and sleep for a long time once he got home, that is… if he ever got back to London.

All of this thinking just made his head hurt even more. He breathed in and out slowly and then he took out his note book, writing down another memento.

Try to find more information about Vash Zwingli and his trip to Altstadt.

With that written he set the letter inside his notebook, closed it, and put it back inside his jacket. He turned the lantern on so he could examine the room more clearly, seeing at it was mostly covered by darkness. Nothing essential was found in the bookshelves so the man left the room and to the one across, keeping his lantern on.

It was cluttered and messy, which was a pet peeve of the Brit's. He always liked to keep a tidy and clean room. The room was filled with junk basically, equipment for lab experiments, strange little statues, boxes, chairs, and a shelf that was knocked over. He managed to pick up some tinderboxes he found in the book shelves on the sides and jumped over the stuff on the floor to open a trunk, which also contained a tinderbox. He turned around to look for more items and what seemed to have caught his eye was a phonograph, a box device that had some flowery type of horn coming from the top, located in between some boxes and a piano beside the fallen shelf. He climbed over the shelf and reached the phonograph, observing it.

"Curious… I've never seen such a thing before in my life." **(A/N: the phonograph was not invented until 1877, which is why Arthur isn't too familiar with the device. The reason why I still call a phonograph a phonograph here is so people wouldn't be too confused. And yes, this phonograph was included in the game for a while, but it was later removed for several reasons. Look it up.))**

He noticed there was a crank on the side of it, which for some reason called to Arthur. He reached out for it, but hesitated for a moment. Finally he grabbed and turned it, waiting for something to occur. Then finally a kind of scratchy sound came from out of the horn-like shape, and then words from a young boy.

"Arthur you killed me! You took my life away!"

The Briton widened his eyes in surprise. Did that device just speak to him? Or was it another hallucination? Regardless, he kept on listening to the device.

"If you only you'd realise what you've done, what violence you've forced upon history! You have to make it right, you selfish old boy! I am offering you redemption, but I need you to give me the answers. Save yourself or guilt, tell me at once!"

Redemption!? For what!? This was what Arthur was currently asking himself at the moment as he listened to the voice.

"The man who escaped Grenoble, who is he? Who is hunting you, and who is the banished one? You laughed when I told you I would call on Gabriel for help. You know him! Where did you meet him? You are slipping; your mind is questioning my existence! My request is sincere, Arthur, this is all real! Where did you leave your sick brother?"

At this point, the British man was panting and staring at the phonograph with disbelief. W-who was that boy? He sounded so familiar… And how did he know those things? And why was he asking questions he didn't even understand? His mind at this point was indeed slipping from him.

"Arthur, you are going mad! Go home, call on him, and ask his name? And let him bring you home to England. Listen, if there is any will in you left, answer my questions and let them make a name for yourself!"

The voice finally stopped speaking; leaving a Brit, drained of sanity and wondering about what he had just heard (or thought he heard). He left the room quickly and stood in the hall, leaning against the wall for some support.

"Oh dear God, what did I do? Did I really… murder someone, and a boy at that matter?" He asked himself, wondering what the answers were. He shook his head and sighed, trying to calm himself down.

"N-no… I-it was just a hallucination, that's all." He muttered to himself.

He really wanted to believe that that was true. That it was only something that his mind made up, but it was difficult to believe it. He decided to no longer think about the voice and the strange device and continue to look for that rod in the area.

He walked down the corridor and around the corner, hearing the whimpering sounds of dogs grow louder and louder. He slowed his pace a bit, but kept on walking. He found himself in another hall, one side with a row of windows shining light down on the floor and the other side with a door on the side.

He smelt something a little rotten as he got closer to the door, making Arthur suspicious. Regardless, he opened the door and gasped. It was a study room with a large table in the middle. It was stained with blood and on it there was a bone saw, a piece of paper, and a decapitated dog head. He covered his mouth and nose with one of his hands, scrunching up his nose in disgust. Who could've done such a thing to this poor creature?

He looked around and saw that there were more dead animals in here. There was a stuffed dog in one of the corners of the room, standing up on a desk and appearing as it was barking. There were about 2 displays of dead birds, pinned down by their wings so they wouldn't fly off (not that they could, since they were dead). Hammers were also found lying around the tables and floors, rusted with blood. The chairs were knocked down on the ground, which seemed a little peculiar to the Briton. What was stranger to him was the fact that the lamps were lit just recently and the sounds of pain had stopped. The British man came to two conclusions: this was the room where the sounds were coming from and that someone was here not too long ago. He had a feeling that it was the monsters that had entered the area but he wasn't too sure about it.

He walked towards the table slowly and reached out to grab the paper that was stained with a little blood.

_Animal Experiment_

_Canis Lupus Familiaris – 1658, April 12_

_After a short study it is clear that the agitation found among humans can be found in the dog. Fear and pain induce stress which seems to trigger an endogenous response, causing the animal to burst with energy. I believe that the catalyst is produced in the brain. It is difficult to determine exactly where and what it is, but I can sense it, it reeks of cosmic genesis._

_There is an inherent problem in harvesting this energy since the creature is bound to die from the exercise. I must refine this process of torture to enable any real work to be done. More experiments must be produced, but it seems that only human beings are able to produce the amount necessary. It might be their ability to appreciate the severity of the process that ultimately augments their experience of terror._

"What? Torturing dogs and humans…?"

From the looks of it, this seems to be Ivan's writing. Was he the one who had tortured these poor creatures? He didn't like this room one bit. He put the paper inside his notebook and observed the room some more. He saw that there was another door in the room that was left slightly open for him. He walked towards it but then paused.

"I should look around the room a little more… Perhaps there's something else in here."

So he turned around and walked to the other side of the room, seeing a display of a dead bird behind glass and a stuffed rabbit on another small desk. On that desk was a splatter of blood, which in all honesty creeped the Brit out. He stepped closer to it and another flashback had been triggered for him.

_A dog was strapped down onto the large table in the middle of the room. He whimpered in fear and looked around, its eyes frantically moving and begging for help. On the side was Ivan, looking down at the animal with a disgusted look on his face. It was a change from the usual smile that he would have on his face._

_He grabbed a saw from the side and walked towards the terrified dog, staring down at it as if it was vermin._

"_Let's see what you have to offer." He said softly, directing it to the dog._

_The dog trembled when he felt the man's hands hold him down and he started to cry out loudly. The Russian brought the saw down onto its throat, emitting a loud scream from the dog._

_Ivan smiled as he continued to saw down its neck, spilling the immense amount of blood coming out. The dog hadn't lived much longer and died soon after being cut open. _

_Disappointed, Ivan stopped sawing the poor creature open and set down the saw, sighing._

"_What a mess. I should have sharpened the saw."_

_He began to spread the dog's throat open and spread it wide in order to observe what was in there. It wasn't very clear what he was looking for, but he seemed to be somewhat satisfied when a small smirk appeared on his lips._

"_But I can sense it. Its definitely there."_

The blonde turned around to stare at the table with wide eyes. He shook his head in disbelief, refusing to accept what he had just seen in his mind. But he did wonder what Ivan was looking for in that dog… what did he sense that was there?

Disgusted enough, he went over to the other door and opened it wider, seeing that it was another small study. A small fireplace was lit in the very left corner of the room, giving out warmth, which was comforting to Arthur. There was writing desk in the room as well, with two grey statues on the side of it: one with a head and the other completely void of one. He thought it was strange and creepy but he ignored that and fully entered the room. On the right side there was a couch and on top of it was a portrait of a man with silver hair and purple eyes, smiling and looking quite dashing. He didn't appear to be too old but not very young either. The Briton already knew who that man was because he had seen him the countless flashbacks he's had since he'd woken up in this castle.

"Ivan of Braginsky…" He whispered to himself.

He took a moment to study his portrait, sure that it was the same man… the same man he had met when he arrived here. Oh of course, he was starting to remember a little now. Ivan was a nice man, Arthur thought. A gracious host who seemed to put his guest's interests and comfort at the top of his priorities, apart from being the man who decided to help him.

He then looked away, feeling himself blush. He was remembering the continuing events of what occurred in his room that night he had those nightmares… He sat down on the couch and closed his eyes as he began to think about the pleasures delivered to him that one night.

_The large man stopped stroking the blonde, earning a disappointed whimper from him. Arthur turned his head and looked at Ivan with confused eyes._

"_W-why did you stop?"_

_The Russian said nothing and pushed the Briton down onto his bed, face down with his bum sticking up. The Brit felt himself getting red in the face and embarrassed that now his host was able to see his arse. He tried to move but Ivan wouldn't allow him to do that. _

"_Stay and be a good boy, Arthur. After all, only good boys get treats. Do you want a treat?"_

_Arthur panted and felt himself harden from the excitement that was happening all around him. This was also when he senses were starting to return to him. He thought about how utterly wrong this was and that he should stop it at once._

"_B-but Ivan… t-t-this is wrong! We've only just met each other. And two men… we can't-"_

"_Oh silly Arthur, we can do it. Who says we can't? God? Society?"_

_The Briton nodded and trembled as he felt the man's fingers trail up and down his back. They felt so cool against his very hot skin and provided a relief for him. _

_The violet eyed man sighed and smiled down at the man, enjoying the way he was reacting to his touch._

"_So you care what they think. Well," His hand slipped down the backside of the blonde and stopped at his bottom, his fingers slowly crawling towards Arthur's hole, his index pushing inside, "How about now?"_

_The Brit gasped at the sudden intrusion and bit his lip. It was neither painful nor pleasurable but very uncomfortable. He didn't know what to think about this now. His train of thoughts were caught off when he felt the finger move in and out of him, making Arthur close his eyes and clench his fists, breathing out slowly due to the pain. It felt… weird to him. _

"_P-please… stop it! I-it hurts!"_

"_Be patient, my guest. It'll be hurting at first but then it'll dull out. Just trust me."_

"_Just trust me", echoed throughout the Brit's head as he felt another finger push inside him. He let his head fall onto the bed and breathed in and out slowly. There was no way the baron was going to stop now and in all honestly Arthur wasn't even sure he wanted him to stop because now he was feeling something._

_It wasn't the most wonderful thing he had felt but it was a good feeling that started to travel throughout the man's body. The pain was slowly starting to go away as Ivan scissored him with his fingers and touched a lot of right places._

"_Ah… umm, t-this feels… so g-good… Ah!"_

_And then a sudden blast of pleasure overtook his body, mostly his lower abdomen area. The Russian above him smirked as he began to abuse the small spot he had just found inside the Briton, enjoying the sounds of pleasure he was receiving from him. He sounded so adorable at the moment._

"_Tell me, Arthur, have you ever been with a man?"_

_The blonde was barely able to register what the baron said but he managed to be able to hear it. _

"_Hah… um, y-yes… but not consensually, ah! I-I was drunk… and m-my… Mmm, please stop teasing!" _

_The Briton didn't bother to finish what he was saying. He didn't want to start thinking about the time he had relations with Francis after having a few drinks. After having woken up in Professor Bonnefoy's tent, naked and having his head and arse hurt an awful lot, he swore that he would never get drunk around perverted men such as his professor._

_The silver haired man made an amused sound and took his fingers out slowly. He took a moment to pull down the front side of his trousers, enough to release his aching erection. He held the man's hips tightly and pulled his arse closer to his penis, positioning himself accurately._

"_Well since you asked so nicely, I suppose I can stop teasing. But I'm warning you, this might hurt just a bit."_

_Without further warning, the Russian entered the English man and giving out a relieved sigh as he felt the man's tightness all around his member. Whilst he was savouring the moment, the Briton gasped aloud in pain and held a firm grip on the sheets beneath him. He felt as if something was pulling him apart._

"_Argh! I-it hurts!" He cried aloud._

_Ivan shook his head and stopped moving, having the man get used to the feeling._

"_Patience, my pet. You'll get used to it. Now, if I may." _

_Ivan started to move, in and out of Arthur's arse, slowly. He preferred to go at a much quicker pace, but he was positive his partner wanted something slow at the moment. Soon enough though he would have him begging for more._

_And Arthur did beg for more eventually._

_The pain was dulling out and was replaced by pleasure; the same was feeling a while ago. He moaned aloud and arched his back, moving against the man behind him so he could have more of him. He blocked out any other thoughts from his mind as he let the feeling overtake him completely, forgetting about that experience with Francis, what God said, and what anyone else said. He was bloody enjoying this and he would gladly pay the consequences for it afterwards._

"_F-faster hah… please, baron." He begged as he clawed the sheets in front of him._

_The Russian smiled and gladly did as he was asked. "Oh, what a polite good boy you are."_

_Not only did he speed up his pace but he also went a little rougher with his moves, which the blonde didn't seem mind very much. In fact, he was encouraging it._

"_Ooh, y-yes… Oh hah ah!" Arthur moaned loudly, closing his eyes as he experienced the wonderful feeling that was travelling throughout his whole body._

_The baron went faster and harder, only resulting in a wave of moans and cries of pleasure that came from the Briton beneath him. Then the Brit felt something extraordinary that made him cry out even louder._

"_Ah! T-there… ahhh!"_

"_Ah, so I've found it." Said the man, smiling at his partner down below him._

_He rammed into him faster and rougher, hearing the mantra of escaped moans from the blonde's lips as he did. The sound of skin slapping against skin was very audible now throughout the room and anyone who wasn't too far from the guest room would probably be able to hear them. But it didn't matter anyway to the baron. His servants knew not to disturb him._

_The overwhelming pleasure… it was just… too much for Arthur. So much that eventually he moaned aloud once more and felt his body tremble with pleasure, releasing his semen, and then let himself fall down onto the bed, feeling the Russian still pounding into him._

_Ivan kept fucking the man for about a good minute or two before he came himself inside the Briton, closing his eyes in delight and smiling. He took himself out from Arthur and got up from the bed, fixing himself up. Meanwhile, Arthur panted as he tried to regain himself from the very strenuous activity, gathering his thoughts up._

_When he felt a little better, he attempted to sit up and felt a pain in his lower back._

"_Ow!" He cried. _

_The Baron said nothing and continued to smile. How adorable the British man was. _

The man opened his eyes once more and jumped a little on the couch. What was he doing on here…? Oh… He looked down at his trousers and saw a bulge down there.

"Oh dear, not again…"

He wasn't going to spend time fixing that small problem of his at the moment. Instead he decided to stand up from the couch and begin to inspect the room. He first started with the desk, since everywhere in this castle things were hidden in the desks. He began opening the drawers and found a tinderbox in one of them. Good, everything was good for Arthur right now. He then opened the cupboard and when he did that he screamed loudly as he saw bones roll out of it.

"Oh dear lord!" He yelled as he stepped away from the desk.

He ground his teeth as he stared at the pile of bones that lay in front of the desk. He didn't want to know whose those were… He looked to the side so he wouldn't be looking at them and regretted doing that when he saw how Ivan's portrait looked like now.

He knew his sanity was low now because for one, the whimpers and cries of those dogs had returned, and two, Ivan's face looked as if it had melted. He gulped as he stared at the painting, trying to regain his sanity. He looked down and saw yet another letter on a small desk by the side of the couch. He didn't know why he hadn't noticed it before. Either way, he picked it and read what was written on it.

_Anatomy Frontiers_

_Further disappointment. The antiquarian's latest findings yielded nothing. I'm still unable to grasp the inner workings of life and its relation to the power I sense within it. I shall pursue no more books on the subject, but I suspect it will be in vain. Since no research has been made in my particular interest I must attempt to fill that void myself. Clearly humans emanate more of the energy I seek, but I hope animals will suffice as they would prove less of a hassle to acquire._

The man didn't understand a word that was written by Ivan. Energy… what type of energy was he speaking about in this particular text?

The Briton had recalled something called Vitae from earlier documents he had found in the castle. Could that be the energy Ivan was talking about? With that thought, he set the paper inside his notebook (which was getting quite thick now) and set it back into his jacket pocket. Alright now, where to go?

Arthur thought about leaving the room and travelling further down the hall to see what else he could find. He agreed to it and left the area as soon as possible, finding himself in the eerie hall once more and walked down. He turned around in the corner and lit the lantern because it was dark, but then groaned at the sight in front of him. There was a cave in of rocks and fallen structure, and it seemed the man wouldn't be able to get around it with only his strength. He sighed in defeat and turned back around to head towards the exit.

He walked down the hall again, taking a few glances outside the windows. It appeared to be night, judging by how the light had a type of glow to it. He heard owls calling out from outside and saw that there were large pine trees outside. Of course, he recalled one of the notes he found and it had said that Braginsky was located within the Prussian woods. Wonderful… Hopefully it was already day by the time he got out of this hell.

He continued to walk normally and then all of the sudden he heard a loud roar from outside, along with a few trees falling from outside, and the sound of glass shattering. The earth rumbled a bit and frightened poor Arthur as he turned the lantern off and paused. He panted and looked down at the floor, afraid of what he might see.

After a while, he lifted his head up slowly and breathed out in relief when he saw nothing was there in front of him. It didn't seem like much happened; however, he did hear glass break.

'Probably one of the windows had broken… Surely… it seems logical enough for that to occur." He thought to himself.

He walked down the corridor and observed each of the windows. None of them were broken, except for the very last one on the left. There he examined it and saw that the window was only being held by a very weak frame structure.

An idea immediately popped into his mind and made him smile.

"I can break this down and maybe I can find another way to the closed off area. That's jolly brilliant!"

He set down his things and ran off to the room with dead animals. He ignored whatever was in there and grabbed one of the fallen chairs to take with him. He then went back to the broken window and quickly acted onto his plan by throwing the chair at the window, causing it to completely shatter and provide a way for Arthur to go through.

An overwhelming sense of accomplishment washed over him completely, which made him saner and smile. He then noticed a bottle of oil on the side of the window and picked it up. Wonderful! He now had about a good four or five bottles of oil along with over twenty tinderboxes. The Englishman could not feel better than what he was feeling right now.

But then now there was going outside… Oh bugger…

He jumped out of the window and stepped onto the ledge, looking side to side. Well there was only really one way to go for him and that was right. He took a deep breath in and proceeded to jump onto the next ledge. When he made it, he stopped for a while to catch his breath, and then repeated the process again and landed on another ledge. It was then when he heard another familiar roaring sound from the forest next to him and some trees being taken down. He looked over to them and gasped when he saw that the wood was being overtaken by the shadow's red fleshy substance. Oh bloody hell, it was trying to stop him!

"Calm down Arthur, calm down… You can do this…" He whispered to himself.

Just a couple more ledges, he thought to himself. The wind blew into his face, making his hair messier than what it was before. Well, that was the least of his problems. He just hoped he would make it to the next area alive.

He jumped a couple of more times on two more ledges and finally made it to the last one, which revealed an open area that was in a state of mess. Regardless of that fact, the blonde jumped into the room and sighed in relief. He had survived that nerve wreaking act of his, but he knew it had to be done. He might find the things that he needed here, such as the rod the note mentioned would be in here. He lit the flame of the lantern and looked around the room, seeing that there wasn't much that was useful around here.

He spotted that there was desk in one of the corners of the room and went over to it. There he saw that same cylinder shape thing that would let him hear Ivan's thoughts.

"Hmm, I wonder what else this can reveal to me." He said to himself.

He reached out to touch it and everything went white. Only the sound of Ivan's voice of audible to Arthur.

_When will it be my turn? Have I not shown restraint? My patience spans centuries. From where I came, mankind is not even wasted a breath, yet I bow to you. _

_I have done so much for you and I have gained nothing in return. Vash, I trusted you. It was I who in all fairness should have entered that gate._

He should have entered the gate? What gate was Ivan speaking of? Apparently there was more of Vash than what the Briton thought. What else did Vash have to do with Braginsky? There was so much more of the situation he did not know of and something told him that he had to find out in order to fully comprehend what was going on.

He left the room and went into another one, which was filled with machinery and books. Maybe here he would find the rod he needed. He looked around and in the corner of the room there was a barrel full of oil. He went over to it and refilled the lantern completely with oil, which made the British man very glad. He then went over to a desk at the side of the room and saw a piece of paper and what looked like a rod. Well at least he found what he was looking for. He picked up the piece of parchment and tried to see what it was about.

_Elevator Machine Instructions_

_If the elevator breaks down again, make sure to use the steam engine to build up pressure before channelling it through the machinery._

_Adjust the levers to get the right amount of pressure inside the chamber. The meters should read: Up 8 and Down 8. _

_Make sure the flow is set according to the following chart:_

_Trinity Steam Set Functions_

_Four-phase Amplitude_

_Complete Steam Flow Cycle_

_Note that the machine will not check proper configuration until all rods are inserted._

Oh, so these were the instructions for the machinery in the machine room and how to fix it. He wondered why the paper was here though in the first place. He thought no more of it and shoved it inside one of his pockets in his trousers. He then grabbed the flow cycle rod and went to explore the rest of the area. He got what he needed, but he went around just in case. He left the room and entered the closed off section of the corridor, where he was also able to see the rumble that was blocking him from taking the easier route. There was just a trunk in one of the corners and inside there were two tinderboxes, which Arthur grabbed and shoved inside his other trouser pocket. When he saw that there was nothing else for him here, he left the area all together and jumped outside the window and onto the perch.

As soon as he got onto the ledge, he heard yet another tree fall, and this time it was beside him. He whimpered and looked away from the woods, not wanting to get more nervous than what he already was. He didn't care about being careful anymore now and just began jumping from perch to perch as quickly as he could. He safely made it back to the other side of the corridor and took a few deep breaths.

"Well that was exciting… I suppose." He muttered to himself.

Now that he had explored every nook and cranny of the area, the Englishman knew it was time for him to leave the Study. So he grabbed his things from the side and then ran towards the exit, afraid something would be coming after him.

…

_Herbert's trunk was wrapped in rope. The lock had been broken, by thieves he assumed. He wondered if anything had been left considering all the hands it had passed._

…..

Arthur ran down the stairs and into the main hall area in front of the strange fountain. It was there when another flashback had occurred, this time it was one from his expedition at Algeria.

_The Briton stood in the blazing sun of the Algerian desert, with an annoyed expression on his face. He held his bag in one hand and in the other he held a pink parasol, one that belonged to a woman. Out of nowhere Professor Bonnefoy strolls by, with a black umbrella in one of his hands, and offers a quick smile to him, pausing a while to have a conversation with him._

"_Don't forget your bag, mon cher."_

_Yuck, the blonde hated to be called that. He knew what it meant in French and he did not appreciate it at all. But he just rolled his eyes and responded._

"_I won't, Francis." He lifted up his bag to show the professor, and then slumped it back down to his side._

_Francis knew why the Briton was annoyed. He chuckled slightly and began to speak again._

"_There is no shame in using a parasol in the desert. As it happens, it's imperative to your survival."_

_The other man scoffed at him and glared back._

"_But it looks bloody ridiculous!"_

_The Frenchman only laughed in response and winked at his colleague. _

"_The shame will hurt much less than dying, I assure you."_

_Arthur blushed and continued his glare. _

'_I highly doubt that very much…' He thought to himself as he finally opened the parasol and used it to cover himself from the harmful sun rays._

The man rolled his eyes at the flashback. Now he remembered how much of an arsehole that bloody frog was. He humiliated him in front of the rest of expedition crew and on top of that had sexual relations with him! In a way, he was kind of glad the man was dead, as he assumed he was.

So where shall he be heading towards next?

He opened his notebook and looked at the mementos he had written down. Alright, well he got one rod from the study and the other two were in the storage room, wherever that was.

He closed the notebook up again and looked ahead of him, remembering there was yet another door in the Back Hall. He mentally slapped himself for forgetting such an important detail and began walking towards it. He opened it and then saw there was a small flight of stairs, with two torches between a door.

"I'm assuming that's where the Storage room is then…" He mumbled to himself.

He walked down the stairs and paused for a moment to stare at the door. For some strange reason, he had a bad feeling about the Storage area. He didn't know why though, which baffled him completely.

Regardless of the bad vibes he was receiving, he took in a big gulp and opened the door, entering the Storage room.

…..

_Sir Matthew Williams had been marked. There was no way for him to know that the young man from the other day cast such a terrible shadow._

…..

He was met by a very ominous feeling that surrounded the area. The only sources of light were the small candles set down on the stairs and they didn't offer much light to begin with.

He walked down the wooden stairs and gulped in fear. Why was he so nervous? It was only the darkness that was scary, nothing else… right? Somehow, Arthur was doubting that. He knew he'd been here before, but he couldn't remember much of it. He finally made it down the stairs and found himself in a medium sized area, with barrels and candles laid against a stand in the middle of the room. He turned the lantern on and like that he was able to see a little more clearly. Yes, this was in fact the Storage area, but the darkness in here felt strange and unnatural.

He faintly heard the cry of a little boy, sounding exactly like the ones back in the Laboratory. Something felt wrong… very wrong in here.

He walked around the area and saw one flight of stairs that went to the Equipment area. Perhaps there he could find what he needed. He walked down that way, keeping his lantern on, and saw that the area was indeed very large. For some reason, he felt very unsafe in here. There were some large barrels that contained liquid in them, a couple of rooms, and a lot of crap in general. He walked to the farthest side of the area in the right and entered a small room.

There wasn't much, except for pieces of wood. He was also able to find some tinderboxes, a bottle of oil, and small vial of laudanum. He grabbed those and then left the room.

Arthur ground his teeth, feeling nervous from the overall eerie feeling of the Equipment area. He turned the lantern off in order to preserve some oil and walked across the area and into yet another room. There he found a broken drill part, which he assumed he'd be needing, and a lot of other machinery items that he didn't need.

He turned the lantern on again because he was starting to freak out from the darkness, very badly. He quickly ran across the room (again) and entered another room that was full of bricks and other things. He looked over to one of the corners and saw that there was a table and piece of paper there. He turned the candle on that was on the desk, turning off his lantern in return, and picked up the paper to read it.

_Regarding Explosive Mixture_

_Ivan, _

_I have prepared the explosives you needed for clearing the flood drain. I can't stress enough how important it is that the mixture is handled with care. Please try to tell your featherbrained servants this before you go ahead with your plans. The liquids are not by themselves explosive and should be kept separated to avoid further mishaps. I have arranged two large vats in the next room for the ingredients. All you need to do is to mix the liquids and you are ready to go._

_Vash_

Alright, so those barrels full of liquid were probably the explosives, which meant he should stay away from them. He kept the paper in his notebook, just in case he may need it for something later on. He then left the room and the whole area in general, not finding anything else for his use. He ended up being in the same creepy area he was in before and turned the lantern on again; trying to see where else he could go.

He saw another passage, which led to somewhere as equally dark. For some reason, that strange feeling was… growing. He didn't know how to explain it, but it was. He walked into the passage and immediately a flashback was triggered.

_A young boy stared back at him, his eyes full of fear. Arthur stared as well, with no written expression on his face. The boy had short dirty blonde hair with a noticeable cowlick sticking out and icy blue eyes. His skin was a bit tanned, in contrast to the man's pale skin. They were in the Storage area as well, but appeared to be someplace else._

"_Please, let me go! I won't tell anyone, I-I swear! I just want to go home!" He cried to Arthur. _

_Slowly, he began to walk back and away from the Briton in front of him. The Englishman then grinned at the boy and began to walk towards him, which seemed to have frightened the boy. The boy shook his head and fell onto his arse, breathing deeply and harshly. He looked up to the British man in fear, visibly trembling._

"_No, get away from me! Leave me alone!" He begged loudly._

The man stood in the same spot for a while, wondering what the hell he had just seen.

"That boy… he sounded like the boy from that device back in the study."

He shook his head though and bit his lip.

"No! I did not murder that boy… I couldn't have…"

At this point, Arthur knelt down onto the floor, trying to regain himself. He couldn't have killed such a young boy. He only looked about twelve or thirteen years old, no more than that. It was just his mind playing dirty tricks on him, yes that was all it was.

He stood up and took a deep breath in.

"It's alright Arthur… It's just your insane mind… yes, just that. Everything will be just fine." He whispered to himself.

He began to slowly walk down the passage and then down some more wooden stairs. He wasn't too surprised when he saw a candle lit down there next to yet another pile of rumble that was blocking his way.

"Wonderful… Just bloody wonderful…" He muttered.

He doubted there was another way around this and even if there was he wouldn't be up to jumping from perch to perch again (not that he would be doing exactly that, but still). He knew that he had to find another way around this mess. And immediately another idea popped up into his brain.

The blonde remembered the explosive mixture the two liquids in the equipment area made. Maybe he can use it to blow the rubble up and clear the way.

Yes, he would have to do that. But first he decided that he would explore any other area in the Storage.

He went back up the stairs and to the main area, using his lantern to see what else was inside. On the other side of him, there was a closed door. The Brit went over to it and opened the door, seeing that the room was filled with shelves of things. He knew that there would only be certain useful things in here. So he went to left side of the room and found a couple tinderboxes, along with another drill part. He picked it up and examined it quickly. He could connect this to the other part he found earlier and then make a full drilling tool. He smiled to himself and put the items inside his bag, and then proceeded to exit the room. That was… until he heard a very familiar growling sound.

He turned to look at the door and saw that something was coming his way. He whimpered lightly and then unlit the lantern, hiding quickly behind some barrels and boxes that were already in the room. No time for closing the door now. He just hoped that the monster wouldn't find him…

He heard the monster enter the room, having this very grunt like growl to his voice… Grunt… Yes, that shall be what Arthur calls them from now on.

After a while, he heard the Grunt turn around and leave the area, making it alright for Arthur to come out.

He lit the lantern again and breathed harshly. He was grinding his teeth pretty badly at this point, due to the immense darkness that surrounded him. At the current moment, his vision was very blurry and in no way clear. His sanity was not doing very well at the moment. He stood up and slowly walked over to the door, peeking his head out a little to see if the monster was anywhere close by.

"No sign of him here."

The Brit took it as a sign that it was okay for him to go out and explore a little more. He left the room and kept his lantern on, knowing how essential it was at the moment. He sat down on the floor so he could refill his lantern with oil since it was running out and connect the drill parts he had with him. He managed to fill the lantern about halfway, which seemed pretty alright for now. Problem was that there was a missing part to the drill, which made the man groan in frustration.

"I must've missed something… Probably in the equipment area."

He really didn't want to go back there, he just didn't… but he knew he had to. After all, the liquids he needed to make an explosive were in there. So he quickly walked back to the Equipment area, with the lantern on, and immediately began to look around everywhere in the rooms. As he did that, he kept hearing sounds of that boy crying. He tried to ignore it, but they just got more frequent and louder.

"Someone's coming!" A man's voice said.

The British man panicked as he looked around his surroundings.

"W-who said that!?"

He looked around frantically; trying to locate who it was that said that. Strangely enough though there was no one nearby, well at least no one close enough to say something so clearly and loudly to him.

"Just ignore it Arthur… you're going a bit mad at the moment. Calm down." He said to himself, trying to keep himself from going completely insane.

He left the current room he was in and then looked over to one of the large barrels that contained one of the liquids he needed. Well, he might as well get the explosive now.

He took out chemical pot he had from earlier and set it underneath the pipes that would release the liquid. He then tried to turn the handles so he could get the liquid but unfortunately it was rusted shut and wouldn't be able to open.

Now he knew why he needed that damn drilling tool. He groaned in frustration yet again and went to explore the area a little more. He wasn't very surprised when he found the other barrel's handle was rusted shut as well. He knew he needed the complete tool so he went to look around the area, seeing if he may have missed something. And in fact he did miss a room, one he certainly hadn't seen before.

He opened the door to the room and found that it was already lit up by a candle, which still wasn't very much light. Either way, he turned the lantern off to try to preserve oil. He was starting to actually waste all of his oil, which was not good since the liquid substance seemed to be so very scarce in the castle.

He looked around the room and behind some boxes he managed to find the final piece of the drill. All in the meantime the cries kept getting more constant. His mind was just in a very fragile state at the moment, wasn't it? He shook his head in order to get those thoughts out of his mind, but it only failed.

He tried to ignore it by combining all the drill parts and making a hand drill, good enough to get through the barrels and get the liquid. He left the room and went over to one of the barrels, drilling into it and letting the liquid spill out of the hole. He took out the chemical pot and set it underneath, having it partially filled before taking it back.

He then went over to the other barrel and did the same thing, filling the rest of the pot with the other liquid, therefore creating the explosive mixture he would need in order to get pass the rubble.

He picked up the now filled pot and felt accomplished. But then another roar emerged, and not from those monsters. The bloody shadow was onto him now.

'Great, another thing to worry about.' He thought to himself.

He carefully lifted the container and held it a good distance away from him. He walked up the stairs to the main area and then down to the passageway where the rubble was. It was nerve-wrecking, yes, but it had to be done. He had to get those other two rods in order to start that damn elevator.

When he reached the pile of stone and structure, he set the pot carefully on the floor next to the rubble, and then ran away from it, hiding behind the corner of the stairs. He waited… and waited… but nothing was happening.

Why wasn't it working? Arthur was literally scratching his head, wondering what the hell he did wrong. He went back to the rubble and examined the pot, seeing if maybe it wasn't properly mixed or perhaps it spilt. Everything seemed to look fine to him but that didn't solve the problem.

'Maybe it needs to be set off…' He thought.

He looked around his surroundings and found that there were several of rocks in the area. Perhaps he should throw it at the pot and then hopefully that would set it off. He'd have to quickly take cover though, but if was quick enough he would surely make it safely behind the corner of the stairs.

The blonde grabbed one of the rocks, first distancing himself from the pot, and then threw it at it. Immediately he saw the mixture bubbling and that was a sign for Arthur to run away as fast as he could back up the stairs.

He ran up the stairs, hoping he wouldn't get hit with anything, and then ducked where he was before. In a matter of seconds, he felt the ground shake a little and a big 'KABOOM' sound occur. Slowly, he looked over the corner and then walked down the stairs. He felt relieved when he saw that a pathway was made for him by the explosion. He was just glad his plan had worked and all that work wasn't put into vain.

Deciding that it was safe, the Briton made his way through the pathway and into the new area, which was similar to where he had started off in but smaller. There was only one way to go and it just gave very bad feelings to the man. But something compelled him to walk towards the passage way. It was as if he needed to learn something… That unnatural feeling was growing stronger. He walked into the dark hall and yet another flashback had occurred.

_The boy had managed to get stand up and run away from the green eyed man, crying as he did so. He tripped again and ended up in a room with chains hanging off of the ceiling. In the middle of it there seemed to be a small stand where a flame was ignited. Arthur managed to catch up to him and pin him to the ground, not letting the other person get up. _

"_Hmm, you're quite adorable, aren't you?" He purred, taking a closer look at the boy._

_The other blonde froze and then he continued to cry, sniffling a little. _

"_Why are you doing this? Get away from me!"_

_He tried to push the man off, but he failed to do so. His body was too weak from the effort he had put into trying to run away._

_The pale man smiled sadistically at the boy. He had an urge… A very manly urge, as one might say. Lust had now taken over his body and controlled his mind. He hurriedly ripped off the boy's trousers, which caused him in response to try to fight back._

"_N-no, please! Get away from me!"_

_The Englishman just shook his head and continued to take off the trousers completely. Next were his undergarments… He looked down at that area of the boy and grinned. _

"_Now my boy, let's see what you have underneath here."_

_The boy shook his head and protested against it, but his shouts were ignored by Arthur as he ripped them off as well and took a good look at the boy. He was obviously underdeveloped, but that didn't matter. He wasn't going to be the one doing much._

"_Now little boy, what's your name?"_

_The blonde boy trembled with fear and cried hard, still trying to fight the man off. Arthur was beginning to lose his patience._

"_Answer me now! Or I'll kill you without a second thought!"_

_The blue eyed boy whimpered and nodded hurriedly. _

"_A-Alfred! Now please, don't kill me! I want to go home!"_

_The man lost his angry disposition and then smirked once more at the young boy._

"_Alfred, is it? Well now, you're certainly a prize, you know. Now Alfred, what I'm about to do may hurt, but it's for the best."_

_Alfred continued to cry, but this time with a confused look on his face._

"_W-what? N-no… please, I don't want to get hurt!"_

_By that time, Arthur was already pulling down his trousers and undergarments, revealing an aching erection he had developed since he acquired his lustful urges. The blonde boy stared at it with fear, shaking his head and crying._

"_Silly boy, you must get hurt. After all, you've been bad. You were not supposed to run away in the first place. You must be punished and this is how you'll be getting your punishment, whether you like it or not."_

_Without warning, he spread the legs of the boy and entered his unprepared hole, giving out a groan of satisfaction. Alfred only cried loudly in pain, clenching his fists so tightly they were getting white. _

"_Oh, so tight… so warm…"_

"_P-please, ow! Stop it!" _

_But the green eyed man didn't listen. He continued to thrust in and out of the boy on his own will, getting immense pleasure from doing so. He managed to block out the cries and screams given by the boy and only concentrate on the feeling of it all._

The Briton froze in his place. He could not bear to move in the state he was in at the moment. That flashback… No, that did not happen… It just didn't happen. It couldn't…

"N-no… I-I didn't do that either… No…"

Arthur was in denial and he knew it. No way could his mind have come up with such an extreme scene. It was just next to impossible… but he still chose to deny it.

He began to walk slowly through the corridor, still thinking about what the flashback had shown to him. His mind was in a blur at the moment and he couldn't think straight. He was still able to hear the cries from the boy named Alfred as he walked into another large area, which appeared to be a kitchen. He didn't want to think about… not now, not ever.

"I didn't do it…" He whispered to himself.

His eyes were now watering with tears yet none had fallen down. His psyche was just very vulnerable at the moment. The only logical thing he could think of doing at the moment is to continue to explore the area, which was what he did.

He went over to the first door on the left and smelt something horrid. There was also the sound of flies buzzing around, which only meant that something rotten was in here.

"There's nothing left… Everything's gone…"

The Brit tensed up after hearing this. It was the same voice he had heard earlier in the equipment area, except this time it sounded as if the man was weeping… It only took him a moment to realise that it was him speaking to himself.

Then the cries of Alfred… Oh god…

"Please… just stop it." Whispered the man to himself.

He lit a candle in the corner of the room and then looked around to see if anything was there; however, the other side of the room was still dark and he wasn't able to see anything. He lit the lantern and saw what was rotting in the room.

"That's disgusting… dead pigs hanging from the ceiling…"

He really was in the kitchen it seemed. He wondered how long they'd been there. Quite a while it seemed, judging by the awful stench. He left the room as he saw that there was nothing useful inside. He then moved onto the next door on the same side and opened it slowly. He soon regretted it when he heard a growl emit from in there, along with the Grunt coming towards him

Arthur whimpered and shut the door on the monster's face, running to the nearest dark corner in the room. He heard the thing break down the wall quickly and come looking for him. It made its usual funny breathing sounds as it was searching for him, along with the echoing cries of the boy. This was not good for his sanity… His heart was beating like crazy and he was grinding his teeth to the point that he was doing actual damage to them.

Then finally he heard the Grunt turn around and give up on his search. The Brit turned around slightly and saw that it was actually leaving and went towards the direction Arthur had come from. Great, something he had to worry about when he was going back.

He stood up from the corner and lit the lantern, trying to maintain some of his sanity with the light. He peeked inside the room the monster had come from, but saw that there really wasn't anything of importance there. He sighed and closed the door, moving on to another area. From the kitchen, there was another corridor that led to yet another area. He began to walk through it and yet again, another flashback had begun.

_The Briton stood up from the ground and pulled his trousers back up. He fixed himself of the mess he had made and then paused for a moment to look down at the boy he had just raped. _

_Alfred was a wreck at the moment… Blood had begun to spill from his anus and he twitched in pain. He was crying silently as he laid on the hard and uncomfortable ground. He stared at the man, his eyes asking him why he had done what he did. Why him? He just wanted to go home…_

_At that moment, Arthur froze in his face and stared back the boy with wide eyes. _

"_Oh god… w-what have I done?" He asked himself quietly. _

_For a moment there, he stood still. He was not able to process his thoughts correctly at the moment. Everything was just so puzzling to him at the moment… What had finally snapped him back to reality was when he saw the boy attempt to move from his place. No… he was still trying to run away. He couldn't let this boy escape… He would tell the people of the nearby village what occurred. They would inform the king and the Order of the Black Eagle about the events that occurred in Braginsky. He'd be arrested and locked up in a prison cell where eventually he'd be killed by the bloody Shadow… No… he couldn't let him go._

_His hand slowly reached for the back pocket of his trousers, taking out a sheathed knife. He set it in front of himself and took it out from its sheath, revealing a very clean and sharp weapon that can be very deadly_

_It took a moment for Alfred to comprehend what was going on. When he realised what he fate would be, he started to cry again loudly and begin to beg for mercy._

"_Please I beg you!" He cried out!_

_But it was too late. _

_The Englishman knelt down onto the floor and plunged the knife into the boy's chest. And then he did again… and again…_

_Alfred gagged and made sounds of pain with each stab he received. So much blood was spilt onto his shirt and on the ground underneath him. _

_Arthur stabbed the boy, thinking of nothing but that he had to kill Alfred or else he would pay for the consequences. Although by the fifth stab the boy was dead, the man continued to plunge the knife into him a few more times. He just couldn't stop…_

He couldn't take it anymore…. No, he could not believe he did such a thing! The Briton turned the lantern off and ran through the hall and up the wooden stairs, trying to forget what he had just seen in his mind. He made up the stairs and paused, trying to collect himself mentally and emotionally. He panted hard and his vision was blurred again. He began to walk again slowly and into another room that was labelled as Machine parts. As soon as he entered the room, a young boy's scream had emitted from there, as well as a flame that burnt brightly in the middle of the room from a small stand.

It frightened Arthur so much he jumped and stepped back a bit. He looked around quickly and soon he started to tremble.

"This room… it looks all too familiar… No…"

The chains… the machinery parts, the dried blood on the floor, as well as the bloodied shirt he recalled.

He reached down to touch the shirt and his vision was clouded up by white, along with the sounds of people screaming in pain.

_A blood-stained shirt from a young boy._

Arthur fell down on his knees, staring at the piece of clothing with tears spilling out from his eyes.

"No… no, no, no…." He kept saying to himself.

Was this why his former self wanted to forget? Because he knew he would be this way? It made more sense now as to why he made himself forget, but there was still something missing. At the moment though, Arthur didn't really think much about it. He allowed himself the time to just let everything out at the moment. He knew he wouldn't be able to continue on if he held in everything. Sometimes, a man just had to let everything out, which was what Arthur was doing at the moment.

…..

For about a good five minutes the Brit cried, but he knew it was time for him to move on. Despite what he had done in the past, he had to move on. There was more to what occurred in the castle and he had to find out what was going on.

He wiped his tears using his dirty hands and stood up from the ground, fixing himself slowly.

He felt torn, in the way that he now knew what he had done in the past. His former self shouldn't have taken that Amnesia tonic. He would've ended up remembering things anyway… It was just an unnecessary obstacle for his journey.

But he wondered if he actually… needed the amnesia drink. Perhaps there was something else his former self had wanted to forget. What was it exactly? But then Arthur shook his head. He really didn't want to find out anything else, especially if it was more or equally as horrible to what he had done to the young boy.

So with that in thought, he looked around the room to see where else he could go. He looked to the left and saw that there was another door. He went towards it, opening it, and a small storage area with shelves. He walked into it and on his left side he saw the two rods he needed and a note next to it.

He felt overwhelmed with relief as he finally found what he was looking for. First he had picked up the note to see what was written on it. It appeared to be identical to another note he had obtained from earlier so he just set it back down from where he had found it. He picked up both of the rods and put them into his bag with the other rod, feeling much saner than he had been feeling before. Ah, but the nice feeling didn't last for very long.

He heard the Grunt growl from nearby and also heard it walk heavily towards the room he was in. Again, there was no time for closing the door shut. Arthur had quickly run deeper into the room and around a corner where he found a box. He crouched and hid behind it, listening closely to the sounds of the monster. He wasn't able to tell very easily where it was, if it was either in the room already or just barely approaching it. After a while though, the Briton felt safe enough to come out of his hiding place and peek around the corner.

When he saw nothing in the room, he took a deep breath in and walked away from the corner, back to the room where he took his time crying in. Apparently the Grunt wasn't too far from him since he still heard some breathing and grunting sounds. He decided to slowly trail behind the creature, making sure it wouldn't sense his presence. He also had to be careful in not looking at it because he noticed that when he did that, it drained his sanity an awful lot. But why wouldn't it be making him mad? Such things shouldn't even exist!

He ground his teeth in fear, feeling extremely nervousness once he entered the kitchen.

'Please don't turn around, please don't turn around.' He begged inside of his mind. But unfortunately for the man, the Grunt turned around slowly as it had felt that somebody was looking at it. Immediately, the man hid in the dark shadows of the room, hoping it hadn't actually spotted him.

He didn't know exactly why, but instead of hiding, the Brit started to walk back to the main area of the Storage slowly, not really caring if the monster would see him or anything.

He managed to make it to the little small area again without being noticed and continued to walk back to the rubble. The Grunt didn't seem to be so intelligent after all it seemed. If Arthur was being trailed by someone or something, in time he would notice it and would probably be able to spot them in no time.

He made it to the remains of the rubble and felt a little relieved about the fact that was near the exit of this horrid area. But as he passed through it, he felt the earth shake and heard a roar echo, causing some rocks to fall once more. He quickly ran through the area so he wouldn't be hit or anything and ran up the stairs. He was then met by a Grunt coming his way and for his luck, it had noticed him.

The blonde gasped and quickly hid in a dark corner, with his back towards the monster. He prayed that it would have some mercy on him and not horribly maim him, even though he did deserve it.

Strangely enough though, he didn't feel it try to claw him out. He dared to peek behind him and the result had amused him deeply. Apparently the Grunt went down towards the stairs and passed by him as if he wasn't even there.

He felt himself smile and snorted, finding it funny in a way. How stupid could these creatures be!?

He immediately regretted doing that though because the Grunt seemed to have heard him make a sound and turn around, already spotting the British man.

"Oh bollocks…"

Fear took over the man's system as he stared at the monster coming towards him. He shook his head and kept muttering 'no' and 'please.' But the Grunt didn't seem to care and just gashed the man with his right hand, which was really a claw, and killed him with the impact.

_Darkness can act as cover…_

Arthur saw a flash of white as he opened his eyes. He felt himself lying down on the floor and gasp heavily. He sat up hurriedly and glanced around, seeing where he was. He was still in the Storage, not too far from the location from where he was… killed.

Wait? How was he alive? He was sure that he had been killed… He died… So was he still alive?

He looked next to him on the ground and saw a little of the red flesh substance the Shadow left behind.

"Did that thing bring me back to life?" He asked himself quietly.

Why did it do that though? Didn't the Shadow want him dead? Why was it bringing him back to life?

The Briton was more confused than what he was before. He got up from where he was laying down, trying to regain his balance. He figured he might as well keep going to where he was heading, now that was… alive.

He walked back to the direction of the main area and to his surprise a Grunt was walking towards him, noticing him and charging to attack.

A sudden feeling of determination filled the Brit as he saw the monster coming after him.

"No, not this time." He whispered to himself.

It was decided. He dodged the attack the Grunt delivered and ran past him, beginning a chase between him and the monster. He ran quickly through the passageway and into the main area where he started. He tried to recall where the entrance was and then remembered when he saw a case of stairs that headed up. He ran towards that way and then he did the stupidest thing he could ever do. He looked back in curiosity to see how close the Grunt was. Surprisingly, it was right behind him and it clawed at him, causing the man to yelp loudly in pain. Regardless of the wound that he now had, Arthur ran up the stairs and finally reached the door to the Back Hall, opening it fast and shutting it on the face of that horrid creation.

* * *

**So there you go! I won't be promising or giving you hints about when I'll update next. It seems that I'm keeping up at a rate of updating at least once a month.****  
**

**And yeah... now you know what I wanted to do with poor Alfred -_-  
**

**Oh and I feel the need to explain why Arthur was revived, even though he was supposedly killed by the grunt. Apparently the Shadow revives him and for what reason I don't know, but oh well! And I don't really think I need to explain anymore (and if I do, please let me know so I can update this AN).**

**Also, a little on the side, have you guys seen the new Halloween trailer for Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs? Oh gosh it had me on the edge of my seat xD If you haven't seen it, GO AND WATCH IT NOW! Depending on time and stuff, maybe I can do a Hetalia fic for AMFP as well :D Oh well we'll see.**

**Note: I would like to give credit to the official Amnesia Wiki page for the Notes and Diaries. This is where I was able to get them. I also like to give credit to SanCo654 on YouTube because I watched his videos in order to have a reference of actions Arthur should take. **

**Arrivederci,  
**

**Kat  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey there guys! Happy (belated) Holidays and also a Happy New Year! I really wanted to get this out sooner but holiday laziness kicked in and my beta got her laptop taken away so she wasn't able to beta this for me. So if there are any errors here, I apologise and I'll reupload this chapter once my beta gets around to doing it. I just wanted keep my promise of updating at least once a month.**

**Disclaimers: **_**Amnesia: The Dark Descent**_** is owned by Frictional Games and **_**Hetalia: Axis Powers**_** is owned by Hidekazu Himaruya.**

**Happy Readings!**

* * *

_The thin mist brushed his face as he stepped outside. London weather could be cruel, but it was the kind of cruelty he could handle. "Is this another dream?" he thought, and screamed at the top of his lungs._

…..

His vision was clouded in red due to the blood that had been shed when that monster attacked him. Not too long after he escaped the Storage, he heard the very familiar and loud roar of the Shadow. It signalled that it was upset that the blonde man had made progress once again. It made him grin, feeling a little bit of a sense of victory. But it was all too confusing to him… Why would that thing revive him if he wanted him dead? It just… didn't make any sense.

Arthur breathed harshly and forced himself to walk up the stairs, opening the door to the Back Hall. Nothing seemed to be much different at the moment, but as he walked more into the middle he noticed that some changes had occurred. He still wasn't able to see anything too clearly because blood was clouding his vision and the pain of the wound that had been inflicted on him from the Grunt was starting to take effect on him now. He leaned against one of the stony walls for a moment and began to dig through his bag for laudanum. He recalled he had about maybe 4 vials of it with him and he knew that he probably needed two of them in order to be in an alright state.

He got two of them out and drank one of the vials, almost immediately feeling much better in general. But he could feel that his wound was still bleeding quite badly, so he opened the second vial and aimed it towards where he felt the pain in his back. He knew he got the wound because he felt the pain dull away quickly and the warm crimson liquid stop spilling.

"Ah… much better."

His vision was now cleared up and he was able to see more clearly. He looked around the hall and felt his jaw drop. What the bloody hell?

His eyes were directed at the disturbing fountain that appeared even more… erm, disturbing now after he had exited the Storage. The fountain spout shaped like a baby's face stopped pouring out water. Although there was no more water coming out, there was still a presence of a liquid that filled the fountain… and that was blood.

On top that madness, there was now a body of little dark skinned boy on top of the legs of the woman and it was definitely dead, Arthur was sure of that.

He felt his eyes twitch at the sight of it and began to breathe in a panic mode. This was just… too unreal.

He turned around from the fountain to stop looking at it and ended up staring at the entrance of the Back Hall. There was no way of going back now for sure (not that Arthur wanted to, since that damn water monster was still there) because the Shadow's fleshy substance had completely covered the way back down to the entrance. It was an obvious sign for the Englishman, telling him he could not go back now, even if he wanted to.

He sighed aloud. This hall now felt like a danger zone and Arthur knew he had to move on quickly. He ran towards the door leading where the lift and the machine room were located at, avoiding some of the pulsating flesh substance that had come from the shadow. He was a bit relieved to find it still untouched by the Shadow, but in no time it would travel over here for sure.

The Briton ran towards the Machine room and opened it quickly, wanting to just fix that damn lift.

_..._

_He returned the tea cup to the saucer and picked up the orb as one would an apple, and pondered on the strange happenings._

_..._

Now that the man knew very well what he should do, he went straight to work and he started with fixing the pressure. When he reached the room, he took out the Instructions on fixing the Elevator and read over it again. Alright, 8 up and 8 down. No problem!

He tried to figure out the puzzle by making the first, second, and sixth levers go down and the rest of them (being the third, fourth, and fifth) go up.

"Counting 8 up and counting 8 down… alright." He muttered.

He heard something like steam go off and he sighed. He must've done it right. He picked up his things and ran out of the room, going straight towards the room where the rods had to be placed it. For a moment he pondered and thought about Trinity. He stared at the shapes above each of the holes and then took out the rods.

'Alright, blue one, trinity Steam rod, in the middle, underneath the triangle.' He thought as he inserted the first one.

'Then the red one, four phase amplitude, on the right, underneath the square.' He placed the red on there and then sighed. One more to go.

He took the final one out, the green one that was the flow cycle rod, and then inserted in the one on the left, underneath the circle shape. A sound of pressure moving and it being constant came out from one of the pipes and the Briton sighed in relief. Everything was in place now. He just had to start the machine again.

He ran down the last case of stairs and then back to the room where all the main machinery was at. He quickly checked the burner to see if there was enough coal and if the fire was being ignited properly. Once he saw everything was okay, he pulled the final lever next to the cogwheels and felt accomplished once he saw everything running properly, they way they should be running.

"Yes, I did it!" Cried the man aloud.

Now he would be able to use the elevator and move on to another area, getting closer to the Inner Sanctum. He walked out of the room confidently, with a smile on his face. He was feeling so much better now, despite all of the shit he has been through so far. But just as that feeling was kicking it to its peak, the Shadow's roar echoed throughout the machine room.

Arthur paused and hitched his breath, looking around his surroundings. Its flesh was starting to appear on the walls and ground, overtaking the machine room slowly.

The Briton knew he had to get out of there as soon as possible. He walked up the stairs carefully, trying not to make contact with the red substance. But it was very difficult and he ended up getting hit by it, resulting in a lot of pain.

"Ouch!"

He became more careful with his movement afterwards. Apparently the Shadow wasn't done overtaking the area yet since it kept leaving its remains in the man's way, which he somehow avoided for the most part. There were now blobs of flesh stuff on the grounds, and large ones at that, and they seemed quite dangerous. But luckily for Arthur he had reached the exit and quickly, but carefully, left the area.

_..._

_He tried to fit the pieces together, but it was like the sand dunes, they shifted when you weren't looking._

_..._

Arthur was met by absolute silence as he exited the machine room. He looked around the hall and saw nothing out of the ordinary. He took one step and big boom happened, causing him to temporarily black out and whimper.

When he opened his eyes, he opened them wide and looked horrified. The Shadow blocked the way to going back to where the other rooms and fountain were at. It nearly consumed the whole area and left a very dark feeling and light to the room. Now it was definitely time for the blonde to use the elevator and move along. He was no longer safe here and he felt that the small time frame of safety he felt would be the only one for a while.

He ran towards the elevator and shut the gates on them. He took one final glance at the hall and then took in a deep breath as he pulled the lever.

He felt the lift go down slowly and he relaxed for a moment. He was getting away from that dreaded Shadow for now. Hopefully where he was heading towards was a safe area. Speaking of which, where was he even going? He passed already a couple of floors it seemed since two other gates had appeared in front of him and then disappearing. The lights were flickering quite a lot, having certain moments in darkness, which had concerned the Briton.

The light went off again momentarily and when they came on, Arthur whimpered in fear as he saw that the moving walls in front of him had the Shadow's red flesh on them.

"Oh dear god no…"

Then the elevator completely stopped at a halt, causing the Brit to lose his balance. He regained it after a while and then started to panic.

"Shit, shit, shit! I'm stuck… oh god no, I am stuck!" He looked around frantically to see if there was any possible way of getting out, but it seemed that he was stuck inside the elevator. And then abruptly the elevator began to move, no not move, fall.

The man lost his balance once again and fell to the ground. He was able to feel himself getting lifted off the ground, which scared him. He began to scream loudly and tried to find something to hold onto. He grabbed the lever, which in no way worked anymore, and shut his eyes.

'When will this end?' He thought to himself as he continued to scream.

Then suddenly the elevator came to a crash landing, causing Arthur to fall unconscious.

_..._

_The servants avoided him, yet he knew they were there. They all smelled of spiced wine, a mystic scent permeated by clove and sage._

_..._

When he came to, he heard a moan of pain from an unknown man. He opened his eyes and found himself aching all over, lying down on a hard stone ground. He struggled to get up for a moment but after a while he managed to stand up on his feet without losing his balance.

"Ouch… my head…. And my body." He said to himself.

He looked around him and wondered where he was. He saw that the elevator had fallen down and made quite a mess of rocks and things where it used to be located at. Well that certainly meant he wouldn't be able to use it anymore, not that he wanted to anyway. Arthur knew he was going to have a lot of problems and paranoia once he got back home to England.

England… oh how he missed England. He wished to be back at Mayfair, London where he had grown up. He desired to be picked on again by his older brothers and read stories to his younger brother Peter, hoping he'd get better from the disease he had gotten as a child. He was only fifteen and he deserves to live. Yes… so young… Alfred deserved to live as well.

He shook his head, trying not to remember about that at the moment. He could cry himself to guilt later when he got back home and finished dealing with the hell of a mess he had made here in Braginsky. He looked around and tried to figure out where he was. It was a dark area, only lit by some candelabras on the sides and it was a very stony place. It looked almost like a dungeon. Was this a dungeon?

He walked further away from the collapsed elevator and more into the area. A flashback was triggered as he got closer to a blocked gate not too far from him.

_He and Ivan arrived safely to the area by the elevator and then walked towards the gate. Arthur felt a bit uncomfortable as he looked around and heard chains from afar._

"_Come – This way." Said the Russian simply._

_At that moment, a wiping sound occurred and a groan of a man echoed throughout the area. The Briton stopped at where he was and tensed. He looked at Ivan with wide eyes, almost as if they were trying to speak with him._

"_What was that!?"_

_Ivan simply smiled at the Briton._

"_Oh, forgive me. I should have warned you. One of my responsibilities as baron is that of a prison warden. This is where the criminals are locked up."_

_A prison? Oh dear…_

"_Like a dungeon?" The blonde asked curiously._

_The baron nodded. "Very much so. Come – don't linger."_

_The smaller man didn't question him and quickly followed behind him._

Arthur felt himself trembling a lot in fear, he hands clenching and unclenching. A dungeon…. A prison…

"No… no, no, no, I won't go in." He said to himself.

He did not trust the dungeon at all, not after hearing those moans of pain coming from behind that gate that thankfully was blocked off by easily movable rocks and ledges of wood. He had a similar bad feeling about it, like he did for the Storage area back in the Back Hall. But he knew he had to move on and that probably the only way to get to his destination is by going through the Prison.

He groaned loudly and slumped his shoulders.

"What must be done… must be done." He muttered to himself.

He lit his lantern on and observed the blocked gate to the prison. He had to move some stuff to get into the prison but it wouldn't be much of a problem. He set the lantern on the ground aside and started to move rocks and wood from the way. Once he finished doing that, another moan came from the dungeon. The blonde shut his eyes and gulped. He had to ignore it.

"Come on, Arthur, we must move on. Don't be such a codfish."

He grabbed the lantern and then opened the gate, finding himself in a very stony and prison-like atmosphere. Yes, this was definitely the dungeon. And he had been here before several of times. If he remembered correctly, it was like a maze of some sort and then… then those things… the Grunts… they would circle around here, trying to hide themselves away from the light whenever he was nearby.

So they were here before as well… but why? And then an idea came to his mind.

"Are they working for Ivan? It may explain why they try to kill me whenever I'm around but… why? Ivan wants to kill me as well?"

He hadn't thought about that until now. Is it possible that perhaps the baron wanted him killed as well? What the hell happened here anyway?

These were so many questions that would only be answered if he moved on. He took in a deep breath and then continued to walk down the dark corridor of the prison. There was a very ominous feeling about this area and he did not like it one bit. As he continued to walk, he heard a very non-human like noise. It was a type of… moo, but frightening. He heard something being destroyed and torn down, along with cries of pain and pleading from another man.

Arthur turned the lantern off, fearing that whatever was making that ruckus would find him, and walked down the maze of corridors. Right now his sanity was really suffering, but he'd rather go insane than be found and killed… again.

It was very dark though for him to be able to see. His vision was still not accustomed to the dark so he had to bear with it. There was also his nyctophobia that was at the moment really affecting him. He managed to reach a prison cell and that was when he turned his lantern on again. It was empty and the bed inside the cell had no mattress. Next to a fallen chair was a tinderbox, which the blonde picked up immediately once spotting it. He also heard a man moaning from not far and it caused him to shiver.

"Dear God, please help me…"

He walked out of the cell, still shaken, and found that there was cave-in next to the cell he was just in. Too many heavy rocks and piles of stones to move for him so he wouldn't be able to go through it. He hadn't really noticed it before because of the immense darkness in the dungeon.

He turned around and walked through the maze again, turning his lantern off. He began to grit his teeth again as he quickly became nervous. He followed distant lights that would be coming from candles inside cells or brightly lit torches in a corridor. He entered yet another cell room that had a lit candle inside and examined it thoroughly. There was a hammer underneath the bed, which confused the Brit.

"What is that doing there?" He wondered aloud.

He went over to it and picked it up, looking at it. Well, at the very least it could be used for something.

He put it inside his satchel and then left the room, walking down towards another gate of some sort. Light illuminated from there and it seemed like a good way to go so the Briton headed towards that way. He stopped though and whimpered in fear when he heard that same mooing sound and something being wrecked. That was when he saw it. It moved behind the gate and it was dragging something from one of its arms.

Arthur stared at it in horror, trying to keep quiet. He couldn't see it exactly too well but it didn't look human. It was different though in appearance from the Grunts. It looked dark and it had metal plates on it seemed. And judging by the noisy wreck it was making, it probably has brute strength. Brute… Perhaps that'll be its name. Hopefully he wouldn't be encountering it any time soon though. He had a feeling he wouldn't like it too much and its appearance was more frightening up close. Despite that idea, he walked to the gate after the Brute passed by. He attempted to open it but alas it had a lock on it and it was in good condition. The only way of possibly even getting through here is by finding the key that fit, which the Englishman had no time for nor the will do so. He had to find another way out of this prison block.

The Brit turned away from the gate and went to another cell on the side of the hall. In there he lit his lantern up again and looked around. He found an oil bottle, which he had used at that moment to refill his lantern up with. He turned it off again though so he wouldn't waste it and walked out of the cell. He lit a torch on the wall and found it provided a good amount of light. Perhaps in these cases he should be using his tinder more than the lantern. But he still didn't want to risk being spotted by an enemy that was nearby. He hadn't run into the Grunts yet though, which was both good and bad. Good because it meant less trouble but bad because it worried him. Something was bound to happen.

He walked down the corridor again and then around a corner, finding a case of stairs going upwards. He began to walk up the stairs but then stopped when he heard a roar from the Grunt. Oh yes, there it was and just when he was beginning to wonder where they were. It was right at the top of the stairs and it seemed to have noticed that someone was nearby. Arthur took this as a sign to turn around and quickly find somewhere to hide.

He ran to the nearest dark cell and opened the door hurriedly, closing it quickly as well and crouching down in a corner. He trembled and shook, his heart pounding immensely. He heard it passing the cell he was in and making its usually grunting sounds. It was then when the Brit peered out of the cell door, looking behind the bars on the door. It'd be risky to go out now, but he had to do it before it came back around. He opened the door slowly and quietly then walked over back to the staircase. He walked up the stairs, around a corner, and then lit the nearest torch. He was grinding his teeth badly again and shaking. He just couldn't stand being in the bloody dark for too long. It was just… frightening, the things that could happen in the dark. He hated the darkness.

He found himself in another corridor, where it was just as equally dark as the other ones. He went one direction and found a dead end where the other side of the cave-in was most likely. He sighed and then looked around as best as he could. He was able to see a tinderbox and laudanum next to the pile of rocks and he picked them up, causing a roar from the Shadow to emerge. He rolled his eyes and turned around.

"Bloody annoying Shadow… I'll get your damn orb back, alright?" He said aloud. Yes, that would be another reason for him to go to the Inner Sanctum. He had this feeling that the orb would be there. Once he said that, the roaring stopped. Maybe it understood him and decided to leave him alone. Maybe yes or maybe no, but either way it stopped pestering the Brit.

Arthur looked around for somewhere to go but the dark really wasn't helping him. He decided to go back towards where the torch was at and go the other way that he had skipped. He lit the lantern on again and then noticed a closed cell door. He attempted to open it but then found that it was locked. He examined it further and saw that it was weak and could be easily broken with something else. He thought about the hammer he had obtained earlier but then dismissed the thought when he realised that he needed something else along with it in order to break a lock, like a chipper or something. Most likely there was one around here if the hammer was here. He just had to look through this miserable place in order to find it.

He moved along when he knew what he had to do and then opened the cell next to the closed one. A light from a candle was brightly lit and as he walked into it, a flashback had occurred to him.

_The Briton himself walked inside a cell, but a different one at that, and he didn't look very pleased. He glared down at a middle-aged woman who was sniffling and crying. His thick eyebrows furrowed as he closed the cell door shut and walked towards her._

"_Where is he? Where did he go?" He ordered angrily._

"_No, I won't tell! I'll never tell you where my son went!" She cried out._

_The Englishman clenched his teeth and fists, his glare becoming more intimidating._

"_You are just making things worse." He snarled._

_The woman continued to cry and shook her head. After a while, the man sighed and kneeled down in front of her. Perhaps he should try a more calm approach._

"_Look – this is no place for a young boy all by himself. He could be hurt or worse. There is no telling what horrors await down there."_

He hitched his breath as he realised what had happened. So Alfred, whom he had assumed the young boy mentioned was, escaped this prison and Arthur was ordered to hunt him down… And that was his mother. Why were they in the dungeon in the first place anyway? What did they do to be considered criminals? And what confused more was by what he had told the mother. The horrors that awaited down there… Did his former self know about the terrible things inside the castle?

He was just so perplexed by everything at the moment. In time he shall figure everything out, he was sure of it. In the meantime he looked around the cell. Chairs were on the ground and the mattress was tipped over onto the side. He looked behind it and then saw what he was hoping to find.

"Ah ha! There it is!"

He reached over to get the chipper and then sighed. He knew that this was lying around somewhere. Now he would be able to open that door and find whatever was in there. But he would have to wait now since that Grunt was back from wherever it had gone. He didn't exactly see it but he did hear it. He ran out of the cell he was in, knowing it wasn't great for hiding due to the light, and quickly tried to find a cell to hide in. Finally he found one, one he hadn't opened before, and hid in a corner again. He heard it coming closer to his location and then pounding the cell door open.

Oh damn, it knew where he was at! He kept hiding in the corner though as he heard the Grunt break down the cell door and linger inside.

'Please don't find me.' He thought to himself.

Eventually he heard the Grunt walk out of the cell and then down the corridor. Arthur still didn't feel very safe though and he waited for a moment until he could move around. He lit his lantern on since he desperately needed light and looked around the room. He vision was now swirled and not clear, meaning his state of mind was not good. He found a bottle of oil and a tinderbox in the dark cell and then he left it, looking around to see if the coast was clear.

There was no sign of the monster so the man took the chance to go back to the cell that was locked. He took the chipper and then positioned it in front of the lock and then swiftly he swung the hammer down to break the lock and opened the cell door. He turned his lantern on to look inside but felt a bit disappointed to only find an oil barrel inside. He had thought something a little more important was in here, but apparently not. Either way he was thankful for the barrel and refilled his lantern with a little more oil.

He exited the cell and turned his lantern off again, looking around the corridors to find any other rooms. Fortunately he did not run into the Grunt again and managed to find his way into a hall he hadn't been to before. At the end of that hall, there was a cell that was barely lit by a candle on a small desk in the corner. He looked around it for a while and saw a bed post that seemed to be moved from its original place. He took one more step inside and yet another vision had occurred to him, one that clearly was not one of his memories.

_The bed was moved in another position and there was a small hole in the middle of the cell. The woman and her son, Alfred, were working on making the hole be a little bigger. Eventually though the woman stopped and rushed her son to the hole. The dirty blonde turned to look at his mother with a worried look on his face._

"_But mother, I don't want to leave without you."_

"_Hurry child – you must go. Find Gabriel the Outrider and tell him to alert the king's men."_

_The boy shook his head though and pulled on her arm._

"_No! You come too!"_

"_Please, Alfred, we don't have time to make the hole any wider."_

_At this point Alfred began to cry._

"_But-"_

_He was caught off by the sound of footsteps nearby. They had no more time at all, as the woman had said._

"_Someone is coming." Whispered the woman, "Hurry! I'll cover the whole with the bed. Everything will be fine – I promise."_

_Without saying anything else, the boy did as told and slipped into the hole. The mother quickly moved the bed over the hole and panted in panic. She hoped her son would make it out of this damn castle alive and well. Even if she couldn't get out alive, she had to make sure her son got out safely. Her role as a mother was now complete and she knew that when she heard the cell door open._

When he came to, he felt a heavy feeling of guilt overcome him. Little did that woman know what happened to her son afterwards… He stopped thinking about it and continued on to move the bed to the side. Underneath there was the same hole he saw in the flashback that the boy had used. Only problem with it though was that it was too small for him to crawl into. Luckily though he had the hammer and chipper, which he figured it was the reason why they were in this block in the first place. He used the tools to make the hole wider and once he saw it was big enough for him to crawl through, he put the tools back into his bag and slipped into the hole.

…...

_The dark towers of Braginsky rose above the forest and were silhouetted against the snow-white moon. He couldn't help feeling sad for some reason._

…

He crawled his way through a tunnel that seemed to have existed for quite some time. No way would Alfred have had the strength nor the time to do a tunnel. Arthur crawled through and lit his lantern so he could see where he was going. He followed the way the tunnel went and found a split in the path where there were two possible directions he could go towards. Believing in his gut, he went towards the right side and followed through the tunnel. He then saw a rubble of rocks ahead and sighed when finally finding his way out of the tunnel. He was met by rocks and sighed as he knew he had to move them out of the way to get onto the main prison block.

He threw the easier rocks out of the way first and into the corridor of the prison. He then pushed the bigger rocks with his strength and managed to finally get out of the very claustrophobic tunnel. He took in a deep breath and looked back to look at the huge hole in prison. This was definitely here before the events of the young boy escaping had occurred. He didn't understand why it was here in the first place.

"Not my problem to deal with. The baron of this castle should have taken care of it in the first place." He muttered.

He looked around his surroundings and wondered where to head towards now. He went right and at the first corner he made a right. He found himself in another corridor and on the side there was just a regular wooden door. The Briton attempted to open it but found it wouldn't budge. He sighed and continued to walk down the corridor where he found another gate. He saw that the padlock on the other side was in excellent condition and it only took him a moment to realise that it was the same gate he saw earlier. Now if he was correct, that Brute from earlier was roaming around here… Oh bollocks. It was probably behind that door.

"I think for once I'm glad that a door cannot be opened." He said to himself.

He went back into the corridor and went the other way where it led to kitchen. He walked up a case of stairs and was met by a door. He opened it and saw that it was indeed a kitchen. A pit of fire was brightly lit on one side of the room, providing light for the kitchen. He looked over to the side and saw a line of tables, one of which had a letter on top of it.

Arthur went over to the table and picked it up, reading whatever was written on it.

_2__nd__ of August, 1839, Braginsky_

_I have arrived at the village of Altstadt. It's a haven in the midst of a vast forest and it's the last stop before my final destination, Castle Braginsky. It's late in the evening and the outrider, who had been with the coach since Bremen, advised me to wait until the morning before I venture further._

_I have arranged for a bed at Der Mühle, the village's only inn, and am now waiting for the sun to rise. I try to sleep, but as I close my eyes I see the men who feel victim in London. My fear and shame forces me to witness the same scenes over and over._

_They are dead because of me._

So this was written before arriving here. Perhaps the next few entries will be about his experience here and it could possible reveal a bit more about what was happening. For now though he looked around the kitchen for any other items. He found another oil bottle by the fire, wondering what it was doing there in the first place, and then explored the rest of the area. Food was out in the open and they seemed to be pretty fresh to the Briton.

"Hmm, perhaps I could get something to eat here before getting out of here." He said to himself.

So he picked up an apple from a nearby table and observed it, trying to see if there was anything on it. He took a sniff at it and smelt nothing peculiar about it. To him it just smelt like a delicious apple. Without further thinking, he bit into it and moaned at the sweet taste the fruit gave to him. When was the last time he had consumed anything?

Arthur didn't know nor didn't care at that moment. He took yet another bit from the apple and savoured the taste of it. Within five minutes he ate it all, except the core. He lay what was left on the table and sighed in relief, smiling a bit.

"Oh God, how I needed that… Now if maybe if I can get some water…" He said to himself.

He hoped that somewhere inside here there would be water. He was getting awfully thirsty and he thought it'd be very helpful to have some with him just in case he got hungry or perhaps needed it for a task he'd later face.

He looked through the shelves, only to not find water. He headed towards the back of the room and heard a bubbling noise. He walked further and saw what was making the noise. There was a barrel filled with green acid that was being heated up by fire underneath. For some reason the Brit was tempted to touch the acid, but he knew better. He removed his already reaching hand away and sighed.

No sign of water in here. There were, however, pigs hanging by chains next to the acid. Perhaps if he could cut a piece from one of the carcasses and then roast it over the fire, he could instantly give himself a meal. Now if he could find a sharp object around here to cut the pig that would help a lot. No, no use in looking around for one. He hadn't the time to eat something else. But his stomach disagreed as it growled at him loudly.

Arthur held his stomach and sighed. "Well, I suppose I should use this chance to eat. Who knows when would be the next time I come across a kitchen."

After searching the kitchen for a while for something sharp, he decided to head out and look throughout this part of the prison, along with whatever else he needed to get out of here, for a knife or something.

He walked out of the kitchen and down the stairs, leaving his bag and jacket on one of the tables, only taking his lantern and a couple of tinderboxes. As he walked down the stairs, he heard a very monster-like growl… along with the figure emitting it coming from around a corner, immediately noticing the blonde. Arthur let out a squeak of fear and turned around quickly to run back to the kitchen.

Getting food was going to be a lot harder than what he thought it'd be.

* * *

**Yeah, I know that Daniel in the game does not have a task to look for food, but I figured since you know how Arthur is feeling and stuff, I figured he may be hungry at this point as any other person should be in his situation, as well as thirsty. Besides, it's fanfiction!**

**Anyway, sorry this chapter is a little shorter than usual. Again, the laziness caught up to me and right now I'm just trying to get this out before next year comes. I promise to make the next chapter longer than what it was this time. **

**And I might as well take a moment to tell you what I'm planning to do with the next chapter.**

**So the next chapter won't really be a chapter at all. It'll be a filler chapter and basically it's going to go over the events that occurred to Arthur from when he was preparing to go to Algeria till when he decides to go to Prussia.**

**It won't be an actual chapter really, in terms of it telling what will happen next to Arthur. I apologise again to those of you who have to wait really two months for a chapter. But hey, I will include yaoi as well ;D**

**Note: I would like to give credit to the official Amnesia Wiki page for the Notes and Diaries. This is where I was able to get them. I also like to give credit to SanCo654 on YouTube because I watched his videos in order to have a reference of actions Arthur should take.**

**Anyways, until next time!**

**Arrivederci,**

**Kat**


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